The term Blogs (not my favorite word) is slang for web log. It allows rapid content publishing. They are only a couple of years in the making in its current form, but have been with us since the beginning of the web with Tim Burners Lee. They became popular during the last gulf war and were catapulted to legit journalism status during the recent elections.
A blog gives the writer the ability to say exactly what they want to say the way they want to say it without an editor censoring their thoughts. The political blogs during the elections exceeded traditional news sources in readership. The traditional news sources were caught off guard by the popularity of the blogs. It puts a whole new meaning on the meaning freedom of speech. Now there are millions of blogs on just about everything that you can imagine and some that you don’t want to know about.
The current blogs are very easy to start by anyone and do not require any technology knowledge. Content is king that is why Google bought Blogger.com and set it up for free.
Administering a site like http://security.efsnm.com is a blog site and a lot of work. It runs on a Linux server and uses the server config’s to maintain the mySQL server that is the database engine for the site. That site took minutes to setup and start using. However, you can spent days learning their syntax and modifying the site design. So you may spent more time on site design and navigation than on composing the content.
At blogger.com http://technutz.blogspot.com/ setup up this blog took minutes. I used one of their templates and tweak the site settings. I already had the content from class that everyone has read. Form the time I setup the site, edited and posted the content that it currently there only took me about 3 hours. I am sure others would take longer, but I was really please with the blogger.com blog site.
The blogger.com site has everything I was looking for as it is easy to use, very nice templates (that are able to be changed) and it is FREE.
As a business one would think how could Google offer all that for free? Easy, they would like you to use their Adsence product. It is not required, but I already had the account and post it as a way to get a pay back for the content. Content is king, otherwise why would someone come to your site…
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
ODBC vs. ADO.NET
I dislike ODBC and its many versions, incompatibles, its poor performance, its unpredictable results, its inconsistent drivers from the various vendors, its lack of syntax consistent standards and it overall difficulty to use and to deploy in a client server environment.
I only speak from first hand experience with working with ODBC. There is nothing wrong with using ODBC. It may be your only option at the moment. ADO.NET is the latest evolution in database access, but has it roots in the evolution in ODBC. ADO.NET is a rewrite in which Microsoft learned form the sins of the past. Back in the day a few years ago ODBC was the only method of data access on a Windows system that worked and saved developer a lot of time in development for database communication. At the time it was much welcomed, but today it is demise is much welcomed.
I was just unfortunate to be a part of the evolution of the ODBC madness, having to re-write my code every time they published a new release or service pack is a major pain. I have bloody scares on my forehead from backing my head on the keyboard in dealing with the ODBC insanity. When you have 1,000’s of lines of code and a lot of database access code, it gets old pretty quick rewriting it to accommodate a syntax change, a retired command, change in the default behavior of an object or setting, new methods, new functions or stupid parameters that are now required, but not documented.
I only speak from first hand experience with working with ODBC. There is nothing wrong with using ODBC. It may be your only option at the moment. ADO.NET is the latest evolution in database access, but has it roots in the evolution in ODBC. ADO.NET is a rewrite in which Microsoft learned form the sins of the past. Back in the day a few years ago ODBC was the only method of data access on a Windows system that worked and saved developer a lot of time in development for database communication. At the time it was much welcomed, but today it is demise is much welcomed.
I was just unfortunate to be a part of the evolution of the ODBC madness, having to re-write my code every time they published a new release or service pack is a major pain. I have bloody scares on my forehead from backing my head on the keyboard in dealing with the ODBC insanity. When you have 1,000’s of lines of code and a lot of database access code, it gets old pretty quick rewriting it to accommodate a syntax change, a retired command, change in the default behavior of an object or setting, new methods, new functions or stupid parameters that are now required, but not documented.
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Parent Awareness of PC Usage
Having reloaded many home computers for my business customers, most of the parents that I have work with on their computer have no idea what there kids are up too, where they have been or how to tell what has been done on the computer.
My worst case was a parent brought us there computer to be reloaded as it was full of spyware. We had just reloaded that same PC a month pervious. This go around, we found a ton of adults images. Normally we simply dismiss it as we always find adult stuff, not because the user was downloading it, but because of adult spam, spyware, adult joke apps, adult malicious ware, and viruses, etc. So it is not uncommon to find that stuff peppered all over the computer.
However this time it was a lot of clear web surfing to the common name adult sites. It was in their boy’s XP profile that we found the stuff in the internet cache while doing a search for family pictures that the parent wanted to save. Any rate the parents being good religious people were dumb founded and very embarrassed. It is typically the case, shock, bewildered, upset, angry, and embarrassed in that order.
Do you know how much adult material is on your PC? You might be unpleasantly surprised, especially if you have kids and they use your computer.
My worst case was a parent brought us there computer to be reloaded as it was full of spyware. We had just reloaded that same PC a month pervious. This go around, we found a ton of adults images. Normally we simply dismiss it as we always find adult stuff, not because the user was downloading it, but because of adult spam, spyware, adult joke apps, adult malicious ware, and viruses, etc. So it is not uncommon to find that stuff peppered all over the computer.
However this time it was a lot of clear web surfing to the common name adult sites. It was in their boy’s XP profile that we found the stuff in the internet cache while doing a search for family pictures that the parent wanted to save. Any rate the parents being good religious people were dumb founded and very embarrassed. It is typically the case, shock, bewildered, upset, angry, and embarrassed in that order.
Do you know how much adult material is on your PC? You might be unpleasantly surprised, especially if you have kids and they use your computer.
Monday, December 20, 2004
This Blog Site
The TechNutz blog was a great exercise. The blog site serves many purposes. It is an open source of information that uses hardware, software and the internet to relay information. It is requires an input device to create the data and a monitor as output to review the data.
The data is contained in a very large relational database with many fields, records and data types oh my! It uses SQL as its queries language and uses HTML, Java Script, JAVA, DHMTL, CSS, XML, RSS, email, e-Commerce with the Google Ads and an Oracle backend database. The blog is a collaborative virtual site in which the users can participate from most anywhere on most any device that has a web browser, even my PDA phone. It uses a user name and password security to limit access to certain sections of the application.
The data is contained in a very large relational database with many fields, records and data types oh my! It uses SQL as its queries language and uses HTML, Java Script, JAVA, DHMTL, CSS, XML, RSS, email, e-Commerce with the Google Ads and an Oracle backend database. The blog is a collaborative virtual site in which the users can participate from most anywhere on most any device that has a web browser, even my PDA phone. It uses a user name and password security to limit access to certain sections of the application.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
The Cycle of PC Upgrades
My experience both with big and small companies that it is cheaper to buy new than to upgrade. Labor costs kill the ability to benefit for network, server and desktops upgrades.
As for resale there is generally no resale value left in a computer. The life cycle of a desktop PC is 3 to 5 years. Most PCs are processed and disposed by a company that is hired to get rid of the hardware that meets EPA requirements. I am paid to pickup, wipe the hard drive with a DoD utility and I donate them to a local organization that recycles PC's for the disadvantage people.
I agree with your assessment about size. This does however come into play with notebooks, cell phones and PDAs. With desktops there is no benefit. However the funny thing is the smaller is more expensive.
As for resale there is generally no resale value left in a computer. The life cycle of a desktop PC is 3 to 5 years. Most PCs are processed and disposed by a company that is hired to get rid of the hardware that meets EPA requirements. I am paid to pickup, wipe the hard drive with a DoD utility and I donate them to a local organization that recycles PC's for the disadvantage people.
I agree with your assessment about size. This does however come into play with notebooks, cell phones and PDAs. With desktops there is no benefit. However the funny thing is the smaller is more expensive.
Saturday, December 18, 2004
Productivity and Ethics of the Internet
Q: What are the productivity issues of the Internet? Are there ethical issues of the Internet? What does a consumer need to be leery of purchasing goods or services online? What are the greatest risks?
What are the productivity issues of the Internet?
The internet by its very nature is both productive and counter productive. There is a wealth of information hidden in a sea of obscure information and at times disinformation. I find myself a child and veteran of the internet evolution chasing related rabbits down tangent paths. It is very easy to jump from one topic to the next as they are related, linked or of interest. As a result a great amount of time can be spent on reviewing information that is really not relevant to the task at hand.
In the work place web surfing is abused by everyone to a certain degree. Most of the customers I support in Medical, Commercial Real Estate, and Law Firms have very little time to play as small business professionals tent to be extremely busy.
In these small businesses the most abuse is by the low paid workers, who is not as in tuned to the immediate needs of the business and are left unsupervised. As a result the most common abuses are instant messaging, shopping surfing, and online games as a result the PC’s become infected with spyware and other malware software.
Since most entry level computer users do not know how to clean their trail it is easy to tell where and what they have been doing and looking at. To manage these workers we have deployed stealth employee monitoring software that records everything that the user is doing, along with screen shots, keystroke logging, application usage times, email, web surfing, etc. It flags the user when they are doing something they should not and notifies the supervisor or manager. This has dramatically dampened the abuse of the Internet for personal usage and set productivity back on track.
Are there ethical issues of the Internet?
The ethical issues of the internet are more numerous that I can list here. The internet is still a baby as compared to other technologies like the phone and light bulb. I would have to say that there are more ethical violations on the Internet than there are not.
The 50,000 foot view of the ethical issues are a broad range of Legal, Online Activism, Government, Censorship, Free Speech, Intellectual Property, Fair Use, Privacy, Security, Infrastructure, Culture and Legislation. The ethical issues are still in their initial states of definitions, some very clear, most very unclear.
In the news the most recent popular battles on ethical issues is P2P (Peer to Peer) file sharing. With the RIAA filing numerous law suits to stop music swapping it is still a highly debated subject. Identity theft is on the rise, but mostly via spyware and other malicious software. Static’s still show that identify theft is still done the old way of dumpster diving and mailbox raiding. Online identity theft is on the rise with techniques called PHISHING. The ethics of the internet are abused all the time both on purpose and by a lack of understanding what the user is doing.
What does a consumer need to be leery of purchasing goods or services online?
Never purchase anything without an encryption connection to the commerce site that you are connected to.
Never buy anything from a site that is not well known such as Billy-Joes’s House of Pain 666 Book Store. Buy instead from Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc.
Always read the return policy, restocking policy, privacy policy, site usage policy, warranty policy, shipping policy, insurance & pricing policy, the user reviews and industry publications reviews of the site that you are purchasing from before you complete your purchase. Compulsive shopping can get you into a lot of unwanted charges and stuck with a product that you can not return.
Never give more information that you have to in order to make the purchase.
Never sign-up for vendor product referrals or allow the site to provide your information to a third party sources. Product newsletters and new release updates are usually ok to check and receive.
What are the greatest risks?
The greatest risks are your account information being compromised, your bank account being emptied, and you being stuck with an ineradicable amount of debt where you did not make the purchases.
What are the productivity issues of the Internet?
The internet by its very nature is both productive and counter productive. There is a wealth of information hidden in a sea of obscure information and at times disinformation. I find myself a child and veteran of the internet evolution chasing related rabbits down tangent paths. It is very easy to jump from one topic to the next as they are related, linked or of interest. As a result a great amount of time can be spent on reviewing information that is really not relevant to the task at hand.
In the work place web surfing is abused by everyone to a certain degree. Most of the customers I support in Medical, Commercial Real Estate, and Law Firms have very little time to play as small business professionals tent to be extremely busy.
In these small businesses the most abuse is by the low paid workers, who is not as in tuned to the immediate needs of the business and are left unsupervised. As a result the most common abuses are instant messaging, shopping surfing, and online games as a result the PC’s become infected with spyware and other malware software.
Since most entry level computer users do not know how to clean their trail it is easy to tell where and what they have been doing and looking at. To manage these workers we have deployed stealth employee monitoring software that records everything that the user is doing, along with screen shots, keystroke logging, application usage times, email, web surfing, etc. It flags the user when they are doing something they should not and notifies the supervisor or manager. This has dramatically dampened the abuse of the Internet for personal usage and set productivity back on track.
Are there ethical issues of the Internet?
The ethical issues of the internet are more numerous that I can list here. The internet is still a baby as compared to other technologies like the phone and light bulb. I would have to say that there are more ethical violations on the Internet than there are not.
The 50,000 foot view of the ethical issues are a broad range of Legal, Online Activism, Government, Censorship, Free Speech, Intellectual Property, Fair Use, Privacy, Security, Infrastructure, Culture and Legislation. The ethical issues are still in their initial states of definitions, some very clear, most very unclear.
In the news the most recent popular battles on ethical issues is P2P (Peer to Peer) file sharing. With the RIAA filing numerous law suits to stop music swapping it is still a highly debated subject. Identity theft is on the rise, but mostly via spyware and other malicious software. Static’s still show that identify theft is still done the old way of dumpster diving and mailbox raiding. Online identity theft is on the rise with techniques called PHISHING. The ethics of the internet are abused all the time both on purpose and by a lack of understanding what the user is doing.
What does a consumer need to be leery of purchasing goods or services online?
Never purchase anything without an encryption connection to the commerce site that you are connected to.
Never buy anything from a site that is not well known such as Billy-Joes’s House of Pain 666 Book Store. Buy instead from Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc.
Always read the return policy, restocking policy, privacy policy, site usage policy, warranty policy, shipping policy, insurance & pricing policy, the user reviews and industry publications reviews of the site that you are purchasing from before you complete your purchase. Compulsive shopping can get you into a lot of unwanted charges and stuck with a product that you can not return.
Never give more information that you have to in order to make the purchase.
Never sign-up for vendor product referrals or allow the site to provide your information to a third party sources. Product newsletters and new release updates are usually ok to check and receive.
What are the greatest risks?
The greatest risks are your account information being compromised, your bank account being emptied, and you being stuck with an ineradicable amount of debt where you did not make the purchases.
Kerberos Security
Kerberos is a hidden feature in Windows 2000, 2003 and XP. It is used for authentication in a Microsoft Network Environment from the client to Server and most people do not know that they are using it. The question was about the Internet. To what extent Kerberos is used ACROSS the internet is not published information from Microsoft or I am unaware of it usage.
Kerberos is one of many important security protocols used behind the scenes.
Here are links for those that wish a quick study of Kerberos.
MS Kerberos Summary
Kerberos FAQ
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q266080/
Kerberos is one of many important security protocols used behind the scenes.
Here are links for those that wish a quick study of Kerberos.
MS Kerberos Summary
Kerberos FAQ
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q266080/
Friday, December 17, 2004
Security challenges of the Internet
Q. What are the security challenges of the Internet? What are the regulatory challenges of the Internet? Explain several types of crimes committed on the internet with respect to online businesses.
Wow this is a really tuff question to answer in just 300 words. I could write a book just on the first question alone, but for the sake of everyone’s sanity I will keep it short.
What are the security challenges of the Internet?
This question should read:
What are the security challenges of protecting your business and home computer systems from evil doers abroad?
You can not secure the internet. It is an uncontrolled environment. You can only security the gateways into and out of your home or business and your internal systems.
A hardware firewall or a NAT router is a good start. Followed by software firewall on your PC with Anti-virus software that is updated daily. Also anti-spyware, web filtering or parental control software should be used, for your self if nothing else. Anti-Spam software or service for email and a good healthy dose of security education on what evil doers are trying to do to your computer and to you.
The biggest challenge is getting people to understand what they are about to be hit with. Once they have been burned, then my life gets easier, because for some reason once they have lost something important on their computer their hearing and understanding all of a sudden becomes very clear and they get it.
A couple of other things on security and the Internet as any business related data or commerce data needs to be encrypted when going ACROSS the Internet.
The common protocol to do this is HTTPS. We talked about that last week. Another method is VPN which can use PPTP or L2TP with IPSEC to encrypt the data in 3DES. These protocols can be Microsoft’s, (which I usually use) or they can be propriety like CISCO or NORTEL’s VPN applications.
One other secure method is Terminal Services which is done by use Remote Desktop application to connect to a Terminal Server. This communication also uses 3DES encryption.
All three Microsoft versions are built into the Windows XP Desktops systems. HTTPS and VPN are in all versions of Windows from Win98 to XP. Remote Desktops is a free download from Microsoft and runs on most all support Microsoft OS to include a pocket PC phone.
What are the regulatory challenges of the Internet?
Keeping the internet unregulated is the biggest challenge. I hope the government doesn’t tax the crap out of the internet. There are so many issues about regulatory stuff being proposed it makes my head spin and eyes pop out! Some of the bills going before congress are just plain stupid nonsense crap. While other bills are much welcomed like the Spyware act, but the government has no way to enforce it, especially when the evil is coming from off shore.
Here is a link for a site about the latest Bills being passed in congress.
http://security.efsnm.com/index.php/weblog/C15/
For links that will make you head spin and eyes pop out there are great reads at the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation). They fight for sane tech rights against insane Bills in congress.
http://www.eff.org/
Explain several types of crimes committed on the internet with respect to online businesses.
Information and System Rape is the by far the most common and epidemic. This occurs when spyware gets onto your system and uses it for evil deeds. It is no different than someone going into your house, using it to plot, plan and execute their evilness and they move your cheese. With spying on your PC the evil doer can take your banking information, credit card, personal identify theft, while leaving you holding the bag to pay the bills.
One more common ways is PHISHING via email or web site to trick the user into giving freely their account information. For more on PHISHING you can check out this web site.
http://security.efsnm.com/index.php/weblog/C14/
Wow this is a really tuff question to answer in just 300 words. I could write a book just on the first question alone, but for the sake of everyone’s sanity I will keep it short.
What are the security challenges of the Internet?
This question should read:
What are the security challenges of protecting your business and home computer systems from evil doers abroad?
You can not secure the internet. It is an uncontrolled environment. You can only security the gateways into and out of your home or business and your internal systems.
A hardware firewall or a NAT router is a good start. Followed by software firewall on your PC with Anti-virus software that is updated daily. Also anti-spyware, web filtering or parental control software should be used, for your self if nothing else. Anti-Spam software or service for email and a good healthy dose of security education on what evil doers are trying to do to your computer and to you.
The biggest challenge is getting people to understand what they are about to be hit with. Once they have been burned, then my life gets easier, because for some reason once they have lost something important on their computer their hearing and understanding all of a sudden becomes very clear and they get it.
A couple of other things on security and the Internet as any business related data or commerce data needs to be encrypted when going ACROSS the Internet.
The common protocol to do this is HTTPS. We talked about that last week. Another method is VPN which can use PPTP or L2TP with IPSEC to encrypt the data in 3DES. These protocols can be Microsoft’s, (which I usually use) or they can be propriety like CISCO or NORTEL’s VPN applications.
One other secure method is Terminal Services which is done by use Remote Desktop application to connect to a Terminal Server. This communication also uses 3DES encryption.
All three Microsoft versions are built into the Windows XP Desktops systems. HTTPS and VPN are in all versions of Windows from Win98 to XP. Remote Desktops is a free download from Microsoft and runs on most all support Microsoft OS to include a pocket PC phone.
What are the regulatory challenges of the Internet?
Keeping the internet unregulated is the biggest challenge. I hope the government doesn’t tax the crap out of the internet. There are so many issues about regulatory stuff being proposed it makes my head spin and eyes pop out! Some of the bills going before congress are just plain stupid nonsense crap. While other bills are much welcomed like the Spyware act, but the government has no way to enforce it, especially when the evil is coming from off shore.
Here is a link for a site about the latest Bills being passed in congress.
http://security.efsnm.com/index.php/weblog/C15/
For links that will make you head spin and eyes pop out there are great reads at the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation). They fight for sane tech rights against insane Bills in congress.
http://www.eff.org/
Explain several types of crimes committed on the internet with respect to online businesses.
Information and System Rape is the by far the most common and epidemic. This occurs when spyware gets onto your system and uses it for evil deeds. It is no different than someone going into your house, using it to plot, plan and execute their evilness and they move your cheese. With spying on your PC the evil doer can take your banking information, credit card, personal identify theft, while leaving you holding the bag to pay the bills.
One more common ways is PHISHING via email or web site to trick the user into giving freely their account information. For more on PHISHING you can check out this web site.
http://security.efsnm.com/index.php/weblog/C14/
US-CERT Security Information
To learn about security issues you can subscribe to the US-CERT site from the Department of Homeland Cyber Security group. This group is augmented by the security folks from Carnegie Mellon University.
Security Bulletin
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/bulletins/SB04-350.html
CERT
http://www.cert.org/
Security Bulletin
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/bulletins/SB04-350.html
CERT
http://www.cert.org/
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Worm W32.Erkez.D@mm
Here is a link from security.efsnm.com site about the latest evil virus Worm W32.Erkez.D@mm. It is a Threat Level 3.
December Windows Patches
Microsoft Monthly Patch Summary:
Microsoft does such a cryptic job of informing the public about security issues. This web site security.efsnm.com has paraphrased the updates for just the most important information. You can click the link on this site to the cryptic MS security info for a funny read.
Microsoft does such a cryptic job of informing the public about security issues. This web site security.efsnm.com has paraphrased the updates for just the most important information. You can click the link on this site to the cryptic MS security info for a funny read.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Memories of past Languages
I am interested in others feedback as to what they are doing and using. I am interested in your experiences, good, bad, ugly and indifferent. Knowing the results of an experience is very valuable.
Thomas Edition was once asked by a reporter how it felt to be such a failure. He replied I beg your pardon? The reporter stated, Mr. Edition you have tested a 1,000 things and none have worked, so how does it feel to be a failure? Mr. Edition responded, Sir, that was a 1,000 things that we did not know that would not work. My good man he said, that is not failure; that is success. Mr. Edition tested 3,000 things before he finally discovered the right elements to use to create a light bulb.
My first programming language was basic on the Apple IIE networked with a micro mainframe. We it took 15 minutes to logon. We booted, used the rest room, got coffee and stacks and prepared for long nights in the computer lab. My second language was COBOL. I got an A+ in the class, but I hated that language more that anything. Pulling out your fingernails was better than coding in that language. Next was Fortan, PASCAL, and C that was the end of my formula training. I had enough understanding that most all computers languages are the same just different syntax. I went on to self teach myself C++, Assembler, Visual Basic, SQL, Access, VBA, VScript, Jscript, HTML, ADO, ASP, ODBC, PERL, AWAK, WSCRIPT, XML, DHTML, and a bunch of other obscure languages. I was on the beta test teams for ASP.NET long before it was called DOT NET. I was working on DOT in 1999 and 2000 when it was called NEXTGEN. All these languages had their own headache and issues. A lot of languages were not forward nor backward compatible.
Microsoft would have you to believe that you need Visual Studio to be a productive rapid application developer. Well having been on campus in Redmond working with the people who invented the dang stuff, they do most of their work at the command line console or in notepad. Notepad is the universal editor.
Now I mostly write in Access and WScript for desktop and server automation. I have rewritten the same utilities in the same language and others some many times I am just burned out on writing code for a living. Since the dot com bomb days, the big projects are much harder to come by. I enjoy writing utilities and scripts that get used over and over. I enjoy the tech support as the life of a coder is never ending as there is always one more line of code that needs to be written or rewritten.
Thomas Edition was once asked by a reporter how it felt to be such a failure. He replied I beg your pardon? The reporter stated, Mr. Edition you have tested a 1,000 things and none have worked, so how does it feel to be a failure? Mr. Edition responded, Sir, that was a 1,000 things that we did not know that would not work. My good man he said, that is not failure; that is success. Mr. Edition tested 3,000 things before he finally discovered the right elements to use to create a light bulb.
My first programming language was basic on the Apple IIE networked with a micro mainframe. We it took 15 minutes to logon. We booted, used the rest room, got coffee and stacks and prepared for long nights in the computer lab. My second language was COBOL. I got an A+ in the class, but I hated that language more that anything. Pulling out your fingernails was better than coding in that language. Next was Fortan, PASCAL, and C that was the end of my formula training. I had enough understanding that most all computers languages are the same just different syntax. I went on to self teach myself C++, Assembler, Visual Basic, SQL, Access, VBA, VScript, Jscript, HTML, ADO, ASP, ODBC, PERL, AWAK, WSCRIPT, XML, DHTML, and a bunch of other obscure languages. I was on the beta test teams for ASP.NET long before it was called DOT NET. I was working on DOT in 1999 and 2000 when it was called NEXTGEN. All these languages had their own headache and issues. A lot of languages were not forward nor backward compatible.
Microsoft would have you to believe that you need Visual Studio to be a productive rapid application developer. Well having been on campus in Redmond working with the people who invented the dang stuff, they do most of their work at the command line console or in notepad. Notepad is the universal editor.
Now I mostly write in Access and WScript for desktop and server automation. I have rewritten the same utilities in the same language and others some many times I am just burned out on writing code for a living. Since the dot com bomb days, the big projects are much harder to come by. I enjoy writing utilities and scripts that get used over and over. I enjoy the tech support as the life of a coder is never ending as there is always one more line of code that needs to be written or rewritten.
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Fighting Spyware
Ad-aware is good, recently Sypbot has become the preferred anti-spyware software as Ad-aware no longer will detect certain versions of known spyware like Gator and Hotbar to name a few. These spyware companies put legal pressure on Ad-aware and other anti-spyware software to have their software removed form their detection lists.
Also before you download anti-spyware check it on Spyware Wwarrior’s web site to ensure that the anti-spyware that you are downloading is not Rouge anti-spyware. There are several hundred rogue anti-spyware programs being free/sold that even show up in Google Ads that are actual the very thing that they claim to get rid of “SPYWARE”
Jen you should be fine with Ad-aware, but I recommend that you add Spybot too.
Links an Article on Rouge Anti-Spyware
Spybot
Spyware Warrior Newsgroup:
http://www.Spywarewarrior.com
Also before you download anti-spyware check it on Spyware Wwarrior’s web site to ensure that the anti-spyware that you are downloading is not Rouge anti-spyware. There are several hundred rogue anti-spyware programs being free/sold that even show up in Google Ads that are actual the very thing that they claim to get rid of “SPYWARE”
Jen you should be fine with Ad-aware, but I recommend that you add Spybot too.
Links an Article on Rouge Anti-Spyware
Spybot
Spyware Warrior Newsgroup:
http://www.Spywarewarrior.com
Inside Microsoft's IT
Here is an interesting look at Microsoft’s IT department with Ron Markezich, the software maker's chief information officer.
Monday, December 13, 2004
Office Automation and Group Collaboration
Group Collaboration
A collection of software applications and devices used in a computer networked environment are called groupware. The is no specific set of application that make up this groupware, it is software that allows a large group of people to collaborate locally over a LAN and over vast distances over some type of WAN.
The most common type of collaboration is done via electronic messages called email. This email can be either standard SMTP and POP3 email or Newsgroup email like at the University of Phoenix.
The Newsgroups are used to collaborate ideas. The collaboration occurs when a newsreader client connects to a newsreader server and than exchange messages. The people post their messages and download the messages posts of others. The newsreader application that most people are using is Outlook Express. Outlook Express can use both newsgroups and regular email.
Most businesses today use email as a form of collaboration between vendors and customers as well as other employees. A commonly user email collaboration server software is called Microsoft Exchange. Exchange allows users to collaborate email, calendars, contacts, tasks and basic project information via a dashboard. The Exchange server can also be used as newsgroup servers. Newsgroup servers have an advantage over regular email as everyone that is subscribed to a newsgroup gets to read all the messages posted in that group. It aids in keeping everyone in sync with electronic communications. Standard email is one to many or one to one, and sometimes people can be left out of the loop when information is requested or disseminated.
There are other forms of groupware applications such as Microsoft Share Point Service. It allows the posting, collections and better organizing information and documents than what a newsgroup can do. Share Point is getting better, but it is very hard to setup and maintain. It is not backwards compatible and the environment is easily corrupted.
My favorite groupware collaboration software is a web-based groupware application called Intranets.com. Intranets.com allows anyone with little to no experience to built web based relational databases in real-time on the fly, ready to use after building. It is by far the most impressive company I have ever worked with. It allows rapid prototyping, rapid application development and production usage in minute’s verses days, weeks and months. We have converted all our traditional client server based databases all to web-based database group collaboration software at Intranets.com.
There are many other software applications that are effective tools for groupware collaborations such as WebEx for web based meetings, information and desktop sharing like doing product demos.
Simple instant messaging can be used for example MSN Instance Messenger. Our team uses instant messenger to hold meetings for team assignments. It provides a written record of who said what. It is like a permanent meeting minute’s tracker.
The reading text talks about workflow management groupware applications. I have work with several large companies that have attempted to use these applications and they have not worked out for many reasons. They have been very difficult to use, time consuming to use and very expensive to purchase, deploy and maintain.
The advantage of using groupware applications are the rapid, accurate, in-sync reception and dissemination of information.
The disadvantage is the lack of personal interaction with others in a face to face environment. While video conferencing allows for face to face collaboration, it is not the same as in person interaction and communication of information. Other disadvantages are the additional costs and customization that might be required for a particular business group.
Office Automation
Groupware software applications are often augmented with documents, publications, presentations, spreadsheets, CAD drawings, voice mail, faxes, scanned images, art work, video and other forms of audio within the groupware application. These files are created with other applications such as a word processor, spreadsheet program, power point applications, image editor, video editor, scanning software, etc. The use of this software is referred to as office automation as the software is used replaces the manual method previously used.
Office Automation is the integration of several applications to produce a single output. An example would be a program called HotDocs. It also the fast creations of large documents like legal and commercial real estate contracts. It allows someone with little to no experience to answer a few questions and it will generate all the necessary clauses, language, personal pronouns, sentence structure and pull existing database to populate word documents.
The advantages of Office Automation are an increase in work production, work flow and more accurate information. It is often miss-referred to as a reduction in labor costs. The actual fact is one is still working the same amount of time, but now you are doing more work. The production of work increases, but the labor costs for 8 hours is still 8 hours.
The disadvantage of office automation is the complexity in which office automation can become over a short period of time. It takes more user knowledge to deploy, use and maintain the integration of the various applications and additional user training maybe required. Lastly about every four years all software and hardware used in the office automation efforts will need to be replaced.
A collection of software applications and devices used in a computer networked environment are called groupware. The is no specific set of application that make up this groupware, it is software that allows a large group of people to collaborate locally over a LAN and over vast distances over some type of WAN.
The most common type of collaboration is done via electronic messages called email. This email can be either standard SMTP and POP3 email or Newsgroup email like at the University of Phoenix.
The Newsgroups are used to collaborate ideas. The collaboration occurs when a newsreader client connects to a newsreader server and than exchange messages. The people post their messages and download the messages posts of others. The newsreader application that most people are using is Outlook Express. Outlook Express can use both newsgroups and regular email.
Most businesses today use email as a form of collaboration between vendors and customers as well as other employees. A commonly user email collaboration server software is called Microsoft Exchange. Exchange allows users to collaborate email, calendars, contacts, tasks and basic project information via a dashboard. The Exchange server can also be used as newsgroup servers. Newsgroup servers have an advantage over regular email as everyone that is subscribed to a newsgroup gets to read all the messages posted in that group. It aids in keeping everyone in sync with electronic communications. Standard email is one to many or one to one, and sometimes people can be left out of the loop when information is requested or disseminated.
There are other forms of groupware applications such as Microsoft Share Point Service. It allows the posting, collections and better organizing information and documents than what a newsgroup can do. Share Point is getting better, but it is very hard to setup and maintain. It is not backwards compatible and the environment is easily corrupted.
My favorite groupware collaboration software is a web-based groupware application called Intranets.com. Intranets.com allows anyone with little to no experience to built web based relational databases in real-time on the fly, ready to use after building. It is by far the most impressive company I have ever worked with. It allows rapid prototyping, rapid application development and production usage in minute’s verses days, weeks and months. We have converted all our traditional client server based databases all to web-based database group collaboration software at Intranets.com.
There are many other software applications that are effective tools for groupware collaborations such as WebEx for web based meetings, information and desktop sharing like doing product demos.
Simple instant messaging can be used for example MSN Instance Messenger. Our team uses instant messenger to hold meetings for team assignments. It provides a written record of who said what. It is like a permanent meeting minute’s tracker.
The reading text talks about workflow management groupware applications. I have work with several large companies that have attempted to use these applications and they have not worked out for many reasons. They have been very difficult to use, time consuming to use and very expensive to purchase, deploy and maintain.
The advantage of using groupware applications are the rapid, accurate, in-sync reception and dissemination of information.
The disadvantage is the lack of personal interaction with others in a face to face environment. While video conferencing allows for face to face collaboration, it is not the same as in person interaction and communication of information. Other disadvantages are the additional costs and customization that might be required for a particular business group.
Office Automation
Groupware software applications are often augmented with documents, publications, presentations, spreadsheets, CAD drawings, voice mail, faxes, scanned images, art work, video and other forms of audio within the groupware application. These files are created with other applications such as a word processor, spreadsheet program, power point applications, image editor, video editor, scanning software, etc. The use of this software is referred to as office automation as the software is used replaces the manual method previously used.
Office Automation is the integration of several applications to produce a single output. An example would be a program called HotDocs. It also the fast creations of large documents like legal and commercial real estate contracts. It allows someone with little to no experience to answer a few questions and it will generate all the necessary clauses, language, personal pronouns, sentence structure and pull existing database to populate word documents.
The advantages of Office Automation are an increase in work production, work flow and more accurate information. It is often miss-referred to as a reduction in labor costs. The actual fact is one is still working the same amount of time, but now you are doing more work. The production of work increases, but the labor costs for 8 hours is still 8 hours.
The disadvantage of office automation is the complexity in which office automation can become over a short period of time. It takes more user knowledge to deploy, use and maintain the integration of the various applications and additional user training maybe required. Lastly about every four years all software and hardware used in the office automation efforts will need to be replaced.
Relational Databases
Q. What is a relational database? How is it structured? Indicate commercial database that are sold to the public that are relational in nature. What are the advantages and disadvantages?
What is a relational database?
The concept of a relation database can be thought of as a collection of tables that are connected together by Primary and Foreign keys. A table is like an Excel spreadsheet that is a file based system with cells as fields and rows as records. A table is contained in a DBMS. The purpose of related tables are to reduce the amount of redundant information. One table could contain contact information, another table could contain product information, and another table could contain inventory information and so on.
How is it structured?
The data is contained within table and the tables are connected together with primary and foreign keys.
Indicate commercial database that are sold to the public that are relational in nature.
There are two kinds of database products. One is the product that a database application is developed in such as Microsoft SQL http://www.microsoft.com/sql and another is an actually application that uses a database that is pre-structured such as MOLDTRAX at http://www.moldtrax.com . This commercial relational database uses an Access database. It has seventeen tables with seventeen primary and foreign key relationships. It has sixty custom queries that use one to many relationships to define a view for a form or report.
What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Advantage:
The biggest advantage is the over reduction in redundant information. Another advantage is the ability to relate information and produce queries results that would not otherwise be possible in a single table.
Disadvantage:
The biggest disadvantage is the complexity in knowledge required for an administrator or developer to build, deploy and maintain such a system. Therefore is can be more expensive to use.
In most companies there are measure in place to deal with data contained in a single location such as:
What is a relational database?
The concept of a relation database can be thought of as a collection of tables that are connected together by Primary and Foreign keys. A table is like an Excel spreadsheet that is a file based system with cells as fields and rows as records. A table is contained in a DBMS. The purpose of related tables are to reduce the amount of redundant information. One table could contain contact information, another table could contain product information, and another table could contain inventory information and so on.
How is it structured?
The data is contained within table and the tables are connected together with primary and foreign keys.
Indicate commercial database that are sold to the public that are relational in nature.
There are two kinds of database products. One is the product that a database application is developed in such as Microsoft SQL http://www.microsoft.com/sql and another is an actually application that uses a database that is pre-structured such as MOLDTRAX at http://www.moldtrax.com . This commercial relational database uses an Access database. It has seventeen tables with seventeen primary and foreign key relationships. It has sixty custom queries that use one to many relationships to define a view for a form or report.
What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Advantage:
The biggest advantage is the over reduction in redundant information. Another advantage is the ability to relate information and produce queries results that would not otherwise be possible in a single table.
Disadvantage:
The biggest disadvantage is the complexity in knowledge required for an administrator or developer to build, deploy and maintain such a system. Therefore is can be more expensive to use.
In most companies there are measure in place to deal with data contained in a single location such as:
- Data replication to another server
- RAID 5 hard drives in which the data is contained on several hard drives at the same time live
- Cluster Servers in which the same data runs on several servers at the same time in a RAID 5 environment
- There are two kinds of Backup Agents on real time data backup and the other is night agent backups.
- The database systems also contain the ability for them to be backed up or dump their data to a text file manually or on a schedule.
Sunday, December 12, 2004
Phishing, Spoofing and Evil oh My
If you manually enter the website address in your browser it will ensure that you are going to the desired website. Otherwise according to recent security issues that were discovered you will have no idea.
It is recommended that the site that you are intending to perform commerce with that you start your connection with a newly opened browser and manually enter the website address.
Never click on links inside an email or suspicious web site that leads to a commerce site. Never fill out a web form inside and email, and never fill out a web form that you did not request.
It is recommended that the site that you are intending to perform commerce with that you start your connection with a newly opened browser and manually enter the website address.
Never click on links inside an email or suspicious web site that leads to a commerce site. Never fill out a web form inside and email, and never fill out a web form that you did not request.
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.
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
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):
: 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.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)