Be strong with your passwords

It's tempting to make your passwords as easy as possible - after all, we have so many of them to remember. But this can be very dangerous; some forms of malware try to log in to systems by guessing passwords, and if your password is just something out of the dictionary it may be possible for someone to gain unauthorized access and impersonate you.

The best solution is to use what's called a STRONG password. This is one where your password has the following characteristics:
At least 8 characters long
lowercase letters (passwords are case sensitive)
uppercase letters
a symbol, such as $ (different systems may vary in what characters they allow)

so, for example, this would be bad:
mypass

better:
myPass

even better:
myPas$

still better:
myPas$200

Using strong passwords makes for safer computing. It's good computer practice that everyone should implement.

Legal stuff: This information is for general educational purposes only. Use at your own risk, and I can't be held responsible if something goes wrong. If you have questions consult a computer technician.

blogvertise

I just joined blogvertise http://www.blogsvertise.com/, a website that allows bloggers to make a little extra income by reviewing products and websites. From time to time I'll be writing reviews from blogvertise. If you have a blog you might want to consider joining them.

http://www.blogsvertise.com/

Remember me always....

Often when registering for the first time on a website you are asked whether you want the website you're on to remember who you are so you don't have to log in with a password next time you visit. While this is convenient (after all, who has time to spend 7.9 seconds typing in a password? Or, even better, using the online keyboard described in a previous post? We're all busy, right? Things to do. Let's move on....fast.) there are some major drawbacks to this:

1. If your computer gets stolen, the new "owner" will be able to get on the website and impersonate you (if you've got a desktop at home this isn't that big a problem, of course, but if you take your laptop around with you this might be a consideration).

2. Some forms of malware can capture stored passwords.

3. It's possible that you will forget your password if you don't use it very often. It's possible you will forget even if you use it every day, of course, but that's only a problem if your memory is really, um, that is, if you tend to forget....ah....sorry, what was I saying?

Just something to consider.

Legal stuff: This information is for general educational purposes only. Use at your own risk, and I can't be held responsible if something goes wrong. If you have questions consult a computer technician.

Standards for Wireless Networking

In order to ensure wireless devices from different manufacturers can communicate with one another, it was necessary to develop standards (it was also important to develop a cool acronym for the organization which developed the standards - the IEEE, or Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).

The name of the standard for wireless networks is 802.11

When we talk about wireless networks for home or small business use, we use 3 standards:

802.11b - the b standard is the oldest. It transfers data at 11 Megabytes per second or Mbps (remember, Mega is million so that's 11 million bytes of data per second) and uses a frequency of 2.4 GigaHertz (GHz).

802.11g - the g standard is replacing the b standard. It still uses the 2.4 GHz frequency but can transfer data at 54 Mbps.

802.11n - the n standard is newest (that's not what the n stands for though). It can transmit at up to 600 Mbps. It still uses the 2.4 GHz frequency. If you buy a computer with wireless today you will likely be getting 802.11n.

All of these are downward compatible.

Curiously, the 2.4 GHz frequency is also used by mobile phones and microwaves. If you are having trouble with your mobile phone and you have a wireless network, you might consider checking the frequency of your mobile phone. Also you may notice performance problems with your network while your microwave is running, if the microwave and computer are running at the same time and they are close together (you'll definetely have problems if you put the computer IN the microwave....). Perhaps this is a prelude to when they combine microwave and wireless technologies, which would allow us to transmit food from one place to another wirelessly....

Legal stuff: This information is for general educational purposes only. Use at your own risk, and I can't be held responsible if something goes wrong. If you have questions consult a computer technician.

Improve your computers performance by defragging

One of the things that can slow down your hard drive is when your files become fragmented. This happens when your files are not stored as contiguous blocks on your hard drive.

Let's say, for example, that you have a 5 page Word document. To you, it looks like one file, and it would make sense for it to be stored on your hard drive (the main drive of your computer) as one block. Sometimes this doesn't happen, and your file can be stored all around your hard drive (there is a part of your hard drive that keeps track of where the different parts of the file are stored). You can imagine how this can slow things down; the first page of your file is on one part of your hard drive, the next 2 pages on another part, and the last 2 pages somewhere else. Your computer is fast, but it's going to be a lot slower when it has to go looking around different places on your hard drive to put the file together.

Solving this problem is easy. To defragment your disk, go to Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter, then click Defragment. NOTE: this process could take a while, maybe even a few hours.

Legal stuff: This information is for general educational purposes only. Use at your own risk, and I can't be held responsible if something goes wrong. If you have questions consult a computer technician.

On-screen keyboard

You're surfing along, minding your own business, when suddenly you see it: the must-have item of the day ("oh wow! a camouflage printer! gotta have it!"). You enter in your credit card number and eagerly await your new purchase.

What you may not know is that some forms of malware (Trojan horses, viruses, etc) can capture your keystrokes and send them to an unfriendly 3rd party. That means passwords and credit card numbers.

Here's a feature that can help keep you safer: the on-screen keyboard. You can use it to enter in sensitive information, like passwords and credit card numbers.

To get to the on-screen keyboard:
Start, All Programs, Accessories, Accessibility, On-screen keyboard

Legal stuff: This information is for general educational purposes only. Use at your own risk, and I can't be held responsible if something goes wrong. If you have questions consult a computer technician.

Searching for good

Want to help people while you search the Internet? Try using Goodsearch - http://www.goodsearch.com/ - for your search engine. They donate a small amount of the money raised from advertising when people use their site (you can view their FAQ for details). I have it set as my home page.

I'm donating to Heifer International http://www.heifer.org/ but there are thousands of organizations to choose from and you can add your own.

Staying safe at public wi-fi spots

If you use your windows laptop on a public wireless access point (like Starbucks or Barnes and Noble) there's a safety tip you should be aware of. You should turn off 3 exceptions to your firewall (remember, the firewall controls the flow of data and access from an outside computer, or the Internet, to your computer). Most of the time you allow these 3 exceptions but you should turn them off when outside your network.

The exceptions are:
Remote Assistance: allows someone to connect to your computer over the Internet or a network and take over operation; used to provide technical assistance
Remote Desktop: allows a user to log in to a computer while not sitting in front of it; usually used to telecommute
File and Printer sharing: as the name implies, lets others see your files and lets you print

To turn these off:
Start, Control Panel, Security Center, Windows Firewall, click the "Exceptions" tab

Legal stuff: This information is for general educational purposes only. Use at your own risk, and I can't be held responsible if something goes wrong. If you have questions consult a computer technician.

Pop-up protection

You know how you're surfing through websites and you get pop-up windows? Then you have to spend time clicking on those windows to close them. There's a problem (besides the obvious annoyance factor of pop-up windows): some of those windows can activate viruses or Trojan Horses.

Here's a cool trick: instead of clicking on a window to close it, use ALT-F4. Hold down the ALT key and press the F4 key. That closes the active window. Voila! You're back to surfing.

Legal stuff: This information is for general educational purposes only. Use at your own risk, and I can't be held responsible if something goes wrong. If you have questions consult a computer technician.

Securing your wireless network

I'd like to ask a favor: Please keep your wireless network secure.

In an earlier post, I talked about the physical structure of a wireless network. When you have your wireless router connected to your modem, you will configure it per the manufacturers instructions. Many (too many) people leave it at that. You're not done yet; you still have to secure your network against unauthorized access. How you do this will vary a bit depending on what router you have, but you need to take the time to do this.

There are 3 encryption protocols:
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). This is an older protocol. It looks secure, but it can be broken by someone with the right software and the skills. It's better than nothing, but let me be clear: IT CAN BE BROKEN. You definitely should not use WEP for any sort of business applications.

Wi-fi Protected Access (WPA). Newer and more secure than WEP. It may still be possible to break into a WPA protected wireless network but it won't be as easy as breaking a WEP network.

WPA2 - newer and even more powerful than WPA. Some older computers may not be able to handle this level of encryption.

Legal stuff: This information is for general educational purposes only. Use at your own risk, and I can't be held responsible if something goes wrong. If you have questions consult a computer technician.

how wireless networks work

So what's so great about a wireless network?

Well, basically, it gives you the ability to work on your computer anywhere in your house. No more sitting in the basement next to the water tank while paying your bills. Tuck that laptop under your arm and go out on the deck; play World of Warcraft or chess on Yahoo while listening to the neighbors dogs bark.

What does a wireless network consist of?

First you will need to get with an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Some of the big ones are Earthlink, Bellsouth, Comcast and AOL (Note: mentioning them does not imply endorsement. And no, I'm NOT going to tell you that I use Earthlink, so don't even bother to....oops.). The ISP will give you an account to connect to the Internet.

Then you will need some equipment. The first thing you need is a MODEM. This is actually an abbreviation for MOdulation/DEModulation. Back before high speed Internet, when we were still using dial up connections over a regular phone line, the stream of data from your computer had to be altered - modulated - to be sent over the phone line, then at the other end the process had to be reversed - demodulated - so that another computer could decipher it. This is because computers use a digital format and your voice uses analog. We don't do this transformation anymore, but the name has stuck. Your ISP will give you your modem, and you will either connect it to a cable line (if you're using cable) or the phone line (if you're using a Digital Subscriber Line, or DSL).

What is DSL? The reason we don't have to modulate and demodulate from digital to analog anymore is because science has discovered an unused range of frequencies on your phone line that can be used to transmit data (there's no telling what was being transmitted over these undiscovered frequencies before computers were invented!). Now, digital computer signals can travel over the very same phone line as your analog voice. Your voice will use it's own frequency range (0 to 3400 cycles per second, also called a HERTZ) and your computer will use another range (4 KiloHertz - Kilo is thousand - and above), and never the two shall meet. You will still need DSL filters to put on all your phone jacks; your ISP will supply these as well.

At this point, you could plug in your computer to the modem with an ETHERNET cable (basically like a fat phone cable....but don't call it that to it's face....) and be ready to go.

So here's how the setup would work:
Your phone jack would connect to a DSL filter with a regular phone cord
Your DSL filter would connect to your modem with a regular phone cord
Your modem would be plugged into an electrical outlet for power
Your modem would be plugged into your computer with an Ethernet cable

At this point you would have a traditional wired network, even though you're really using only 1 computer so it can't really be called a network (please forget that I just called it that). In order to make it a wireless network, you need to add a wireless ROUTER. A router is a device that allows multiple computers to connect and talk to each other. In the past, routers simply were connected to computers by Ethernet cables (and they still can be) but wireless routers have a radio signal beamed out that allows computers with a wireless card to connect to them and transmit data as though they were connected with an old-school Ethernet cable.

Even though you could stop there, there's one other component that is VERY important: a FIREWALL. This prevents unauthorized access to your computer from the Internet. You should not get on the Internet without a good firewall. The Windows Operating System comes with a firewall that is regarded by many experts as having too many vulnerabilities to be your only firewall. Firewalls are available as software (programs) or hardware (things you can touch, or throw). Most routers have at least 1 firewall included.

So here's how the wireless setup would work:
Your phone jack would connect to a DSL filter with a regular phone cord
Your DSL filter would connect to your modem with a regular phone cord
Your modem would be plugged into an electrical outlet for power
Your modem would be plugged into your wireless router with an Ethernet cable
The wireless router would beam out a radio signal for any computer in range with a wireless card

In a subsequent post we'll talk about SECURING your wireless network (very important!).

UNDERSTANDING MALWARE

The term Malware is actually kind of a play on words - "MAL" is bad and "WARE" like softWARE or hardWARE.

So just what does a virus, worm and Trojan do?

Virus
Probably the best known type of Malware
They can replicate themselves
They attach to a host file (usually an executable file whose name ends in EXE)
They are activated by a human being (or, I suppose, a very bright monkey with a valid password....) interacting with the host file (like by opening it)
Thousands of new viruses are written every month
Can damage your computer data, steal your sensitive information and even allow someone to control your computer!

Worm
Type of virus
Does not require human intervention to activate nor a file to be a host
Can spread itself by looking through all of your email contacts and sending itself to them
Can damage your computer data, steal your sensitive information and even allow someone to control your computer

Trojan Horse
Used to conquer an ancient city; soldiers hid in it in order to infiltrate....oops, ah, sorry, wrong blog! ;-)
Masquerades as a legitimate program; you think you're downloading/installing something good
Do not replicate themselves nor infect other files
A common symptom is many pop-up windows appearing when you are on the Internet (often with Internet Explorer browser)

Phishing
Attempt to steal your password by impersonating a helpdesk or other authorized network administrator, usually with an email
The user is fooled into responding to the email with login credentials
HELP DESK PEOPLE WILL NEVER ASK YOU FOR LOGIN CREDENTIALS/PASSWORDS IN AN EMAIL!

Terminator
Hostile robot that can look like a human being
Sent back from the future
Will attempt to steal your password if your name is Sarah Conner

In a subsequent post we'll talk about protecting yourself against these and other threats

Getting started

Beginnings are always difficult times, but I'm excited about having my own blog! This blog is dedicated to people who want to know more about computers and who are not tech-savvy. You want to be able to say to your friends at parties, "Why yes, I optimized Twitter to leverage my bandwidth while utilizing HTML and CSS." Well now you can!

Over the course of this blog I will be posting tips, tricks, hints, reviews, and other amazingly useful information to help you, the non-power user, learn to survive in a computer world. After all, computers are going to run the world one day, so you might as well learn how to be assimilated....er, get along with them....

Paul