information

Fri
27
Oct
Dennis Faas's picture

McAfee and Symantec: Vista May Be Less Safe Than XP

Both McAfee and Symantec have recently countered claims that Microsoft has provided security firms with enough information to get their products working its upcoming operating system, Windows Vista. McAfee's Worldwide Corporate Communications Vice ... President Siobhan MacDermott released a statement explaining that the information is inadequate. MacDermott says that although McAfee has received a document that contained the SDK (Software Development Kit) for Windows Security Centre, requests for both clarifications and meetings have been ignored. "To date, we have not had any cooperation from MS ... (view more)

Thu
28
Sep
Dennis Faas's picture

AOL Sued over Public Release of Search-Related Data

What would you do if you found records of your personal search information haphazardly sprinkled all over the web? For three AOL subscribers, the reckless mismanagement of their personal data sparked a class-action lawsuit against the Internet giant ... this past Friday. This is the first time AOL has been sued for the intentional release of over 19 million search requests made by about 650,000 subscribers during a period of three months. The Internet service provider is being charged under the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California's consumer-protection laws. (Source: ... (view more)

Thu
07
Sep
Dennis Faas's picture

Warning: Giving Away Your Old Cell Phone? Think Again!

Credit card numbers. Bank passwords. Business secrets. Proof of adultery. If you give away your cell phone, you may be giving away all of those things -- and more. In the case of a married man who was cheating around, deleting the information on his ... cell wasn't enough to completely eliminate the sordid secrets he had stored there -- even though he did exactly as the manual instructed. Despite that, the guy he sold his phone to on Ebay was quickly able to scoop out the hanky panky. This reads like a bad, cheesy soap opera -- but it's real. And it could happen to you. Even if you aren't ... (view more)

Wed
02
Aug
Dennis Faas's picture

The Google Hate Speech Incident

Is the FBI poking around your e-mail? Randall C. Ashby II used his Google Mail (Gmail) account to distribute hate speech -- and that was all the feds needed to investigate him. On May 22nd, 2006, Ashby signed up for Gmail and sent a threatening ... message to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP immediately forwarded the offensive letter to the FBI. Here's a transcript of Ashby's e-mail: Warning: The following quote contains disturbing content! "You are no match for our numbers and our power. We will come out of the night and rise from the dirt to ... (view more)

Wed
19
Jul
Dennis Faas's picture

Firewalls: Definition

A firewall is a barrier to keep destructive forces away from your computer. In fact, that's why it's called a firewall. Its job is similar to a physical firewall that keeps a fire from spreading from one area to the next. Firewalls use one or more ... of three methods to control traffic flowing in and out of the network: Packet filtering: Packets (small chunks of data) are analyzed against a set of filters. Packets that make it through the filters are sent to the requesting system and all others are discarded. Proxy service: Information from the Internet is retrieved through the firewall and then ... (view more)

Sun
09
Jul
Dennis Faas's picture

The Hidden Dangers Your Kids Face On MySpace.com

If you have children and own a computer with an Internet connection, there's a good chance your kids are on MySpace.com. MySpace is a popular online community where users can post personal information about themselves, including: Age Gender Location ... Pictures Where they work Where they go to school ... almost anything at all! And that's the problem. MySpace is an easy way for people to connect with current friends or rekindle old relationships. Unfortunately, it's just as simple for sexual predators. A quick search for "Chris" (my name) on MySpace yields at least a few under-18 profiles. That' ... (view more)

Thu
11
May
Dennis Faas's picture

Trace the Origin of Email: Visually

Infopackets Reader 'Jennifer' writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently received an email from an unknown person via Yahoo. I think I understand how the email got to me but I'm not sure. Would the email headers help to tell me this? I'd really like to know ... how this person sent me the email. Can you help? " My response: To sum it up the answer briefly: email headers are often forged by spammers, so it's plausible that the email you received came from somewhere else (other than what is stated in the email header). Having said that, most big-name ISP (Internet Service Providers) have an onslaught of ... (view more)

Sun
23
Apr
Dennis Faas's picture

Quick Access InfoBar Review

Quick Access InfoBar is a cool little tool that transforms your Windows Task Manager into a source of information about the processes that are running on your PC. The program comes from UniBlue (the makers of WinTasks Professional ), which has ... always been one of my trusted sources for process information. From processlibrary.com: " As many as 20 to 30 processes may be running invisibly, silently in the background on your PC. Some hog system resources drastically slowing down your computer; others are a threat to security and privacy; others may be harmless. The Windows Task Manager ... (view more)

Tue
18
Apr
Dennis Faas's picture

HD-DVD and Blu-ray Technology: The Future of DVD

On Friday, March 31st, Toshiba released the first-ever high-definition DVD (HD-DVD) player to Japanese consumers. The company said the new units would sell for an equivalent of $936 USD. (Source: digital-lifestyles.info ) Toshiba plans to release ... units in the US later this month with a cost of approximately $799, depending on features. HD-DVD is the next generation DVD format that stores data at greater densities needed for high-definition movies and television. There are two kinds of HD-DVD's: a 15GB single-layer disc, and the 30GB dual-layer with twice the capacity. In comparison, ... (view more)

Thu
06
Apr
Dennis Faas's picture

Unknown Devices Review

Have you ever seen those dreaded "Yellow Question Marks" when you are inside of Windows Device Manager ? A Yellow Question Mark usually implies that a device attached to your system has an incorrect driver or is malfunctioning. If the device uses ... the PCI bus, then a program called "Unknown Devices" is one of the *very* best ways to resolve the issue by attempting to search for drivers. Unknown Devices: How it Works Just like Belarc Advisor , "Unknown Devices" provides information about a device. By right-clicking on on any information it finds, your web browser will launch and search for ... (view more)

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