Internet Security 101

Remember Halle Berry in the movie "Sword Fish" (ok guys don't loose the plot here and drift off into a daydream of the scene of her lying European style by the pool... Come back to reality! Breathe, yes, breathe, ok well done). Then there was also Sandra Bullock in the “The Net”... Guys! Focus!

These shows depicted the Internet as a dangerous and scary place where one's whole life can be destroyed at a hacker's whim...

Whilst some of this is indeed possible I console myself with the fact that although I think I am special – I am not special enough to become a target for any real serious hacker... But thats just me, maybe you are an undercover operative for the National Security Agency and you only drink Martinni's , shaken not stirred, then your security is beyond the scope of this article!

For use mere mortal some common sense and a few security tools can thwart 90% of potential problems.

I want to give you some practical steps to keep in mind for your own online Internet security:

1) If it sounds too good to be true - it is!

What I mean by this is if you get an email from some attorney that happens to be winding up an estate for a dead guy who shares your surname and has no heirs but can wangle you half the loot - IT'S A SCAM!!!

If you get an email telling you that you have just won the UK lottery - IT'S A SCAM!!!

If there is an email from your bank, and when you click on the link, if the site you are taken to is not www."yourbanksnormalurl".co.za - IT'S A SCAM!!!

If you get an email from your bank and the reply address goes to some strange domain name – ITS A SCAM!!

Most of the scams above are called phishing. It is an attempt to lure pivate information from you for illegal use.

2) When surfing and something pops up telling you that your computer is infected and it will "help" you fix it (and the software does not match your version of anti virus installed ) - IT'S A SCAM!!!

3) If you get an email with something to install and you have never heard from the person before - IT'S A SCAM!!!

You wouldn't give anyone your ATM pin, or keys to your house if you have never met them before, so just don't do it on the web. Remember what you were told as a kid - don't talk to strangers - this spills over to chat rooms and emails too!!!

4) To protect yourself from the other virii , malware, and trojens install an anti-virus and use a host based firewall.

NB: Always READ the error message or instructions whilst interacting with your computer - for the most part they are there to help you.

BTFD

(ByteBoy Thought for the Day)

Anti-Virus is like vaccine -you might never need it but when you do you'll wish you had it!

Note: the above is recommended for home/private users , for companies and other networks ...security is a lot more entailed, depending on budgets and business needs.

As always all comments and questions are welcome..

BE SAFE OUT THERE !!!

ByteBoy Out!

Internet for Porn ?

“The Internet is for Porn*” (A track from the hit play, AvenueQ, hit musical)

(really catchy tune watch/listen )

This may come as a suprise but pornography was a major factor in the success of the Internet. The porn industry donated innovation, money and technology – a lot of which we are using today. Your knee jerk reaction may be “not me – I don't have anything to do with that sort of stuff “ but then you will go off and Skype someone or watch a live clip on CNN online. Where do you think online chat originated from? What about streaming video? And pay per use online services?

Oh yes – the porn industry has touched all spheres of online life. It seems the porn industry is a major innovator of new technologies and has been through the ages. In fact there is a book written by Patchen Barss on the subject; its called “The Erotic Engine - How Pornography has Powered Mass Communication, from Gutenberg to Google”. In it he mentions how “From cave painting to photography to the Internet, pornography has always been at the cutting edge in adopting and exploiting new developments in mass communication”.

So is my subject true? Well it certainly seems that way in some respects...

If one looks at the stats that are released by various sources it appears as if a significant amount of web searches are in fact porn related. However this is a simplistic view – the online porn industry cannot be ignored for its contribution to the Internet as a whole, but subsequently the Internet has evolved enough for the statement to be too flippant and thus incorrect.

In fact there is almost an entire industry created around products that stop people being able to surf porn (amongst other content) in the work place and at home. For home use you can usually contact your Internet Service provider for this type of functionality. This is sort of like using your parental control functions on your DSTV decoder but usually comes at an extra charge. Otherwise a simple google for “URL filtering” or “filtering web content” will come up with some available software packages.

So is the Internet for PORN ? You tell me...

BTFD (ByteBoy thought for the Day)

There is an old proverb, "there is nothing new under the sun." If this holds true - then porn has always existed but like so much of our history it was not outwardly exposed. It is only with the advent of the Internet and modern communication that people have become informed of all types of happenings worldwide. So if porn enhances communication all round - then maybe its not all that bad ???

Oh come on comment!!!

ByteBoy OUT!!!

System Backups – Live without Fear ..

Have you ever noticed how modern media and advertising play on our emotions? In fact the main emotion they target is fear!

Senstionalist headlines fill the papers about war, terror, strife and famine.

Adverts about the loss of hair, loss of income, loss of beauty; unsatisfactory sexual prowess and performance; fear of the country's demise; higher taxes; too strong a rand, too weak a rand; crime; and the fear of not keeping up with the Kardashian's...

The list goes on and on - its no wonder we are all a ball of nerves, running around like rats on a treadmill, scurrying through life hoping that nothing bad happens to us...

Well I don't buy it! I refuse to live scared!

There is however one tiny insy wincy little thing that does scare me...

It's the fear of switching on my computer and hearing that grinding unhealthy noise of a hard drive crash; or seeing that white text across the black screen "no operating system found".

Imagine the horror - all my hard work, all my emails, all my contacts and all my telephone numbers... All my organised priceless pictures of my kids, all my music collections and all my home videos... My knowledgebase and my entire history - GONE!!!

That really gets me quiverring in my boots! Makes my palms sweat! Pumps the blood through my veins as if I had run a marathon!

There is a simple solution, something that takes the lump out of my throat - it's called backups! Yip good old fashioned backups.

Now in my experience they don't have to be fancy they just need to be reliable. You also don't need to have an entire backup of your machine, you just need all the data! The programs, drivers etc can be re-installed easily enough from their original source; but its the data that's irreplaceable.

These days storage is cheap and accessible: readily available external USB hard drives and large flash drives are so prevalent its almost in-excusable to neglect backing up onto such a device. To avoid time delays you just need to make sure you have an automated method and that the backups are incremental (only changes made after the initial backup are saved).

Another option is to get your backups sent to a service provider on the Internet who will charge you a fee for backing up your software to their remote servers. Most of these charge per GB  but there are some that have a flat fee for unlimited size - you need to remember you may be eating into your bandwidth cap provided by your Internet Service Provider.

If you are running a manual-type backup solution – it is always a good idea to have all other applications closed. This is to avoid any access problems for the backup software trying to copy the files (usually files that are being used or written to are locked cannot be copied). So its best to schedule your backups for the evening or a time when you are not using your computers resources.

As usual I always like to give my loyal readers some useful info to walk away with, so I have taken the liberty of providing links to certain backup solutions that I have enjoyed using in the past:
Timeline - This is a good Windows backup solution. It can return your computer to a certain point in time by allowing you to select a time frame that you would like to backup to.
Back In Time - This is a good Linux backup solution. It also takes snapshots of your files according to time.
Time-Machine - Mac users already have a great backup system built-in called time machine - this links you to that product info.
VIP LiveDrive - This is a offsite backup provider with a really good price point. They are reliable and secure.

So after I have a healthy dose of my backup regime I can sleep like a baby - afraid of nothing (ok so my well-armed alarm system, passives, electric fencing, high perimeter walls and attack dogs; also help my sleep - but just a little bit! It is South Africa after all...)

BTFD (ByteBoy Thought For the Day)

“A backup is not like a fine wine – it gets redundant with age! Its more like a fresh fruit – the riper it is the more likely you are to eat it.”  (Byteboy; November 2010)

So make sure your backups are ripe and juicy guys!!

ByteBoy OUT!!

Blackberry Torch – The Blinding Light in iPhone and Android's Eyes.

You asked for it - and here it is the Blackberry Torch review. I was please to be told by my service provider that my Torch would be delivered in 3 to 5 days. When it arrived I immediately knew from the packaging that BB had upped their game!

Solid and small black box - innocently holding the beast within... I could hardly contain myself as I opened the packaging to reveal my new soul mate! The size was similar to my Bold but it was all screen. A simple slide and the qwerty keyboard revealed itself in all its glory. Now that's what I am talking about - the best of both world... Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too!!!

Powering on the Torch I was impressed with the screen quality and I chose to follow the tutorial. Not being accustomed to a multi touch Operating System (and the torch has the latest BB OS version 6) I found this most helpful for giving me a quick understanding of how to literally flip through my pics or emails, and squeeze closer into picture, web pages and emails.

The mini disk within the box allowed me to install the latest Blackberry desktop which then asked if I wanted to run a transfer wizard. I ran the Wizard and this transferred all my emails, contacts, calendar info and Blackberry Messenger contacts in one fowl swoop. A well thought out upgrade plan on BB's part.

The camera is leaps and bounds better than my bold with 5 mega pixel capabilities. The browser is much more functional and has TABBED Browsing - like WoW! 3G makes browsing speeds a pleasure and the BB YouTube application proves that live video streaming is possible and actually viable on the torch. However, the negative element that I have noticed is that the rear below the keyboard does get rather hot during video playback.
The video camera function also works very well and allows easy up-loading of your clips to YouTube. The torch syncs with iTunes and can therefore replace your ipod, another Wow!

As with all touch screens it has a proximity sensor which disengages the screen; so that you don't hit any keys by mistake with your face during a call. This works well for the most part however you may have a harder time if you are left handed due to the sensors placement being more effective when holding the phone with your right hand.

The battery is great without wireless Lan and Bluetooth enabled (a couple of days) but will still get you through an entire day with both of these on, in addition to heavy voice use.

The phones performance is smooth and there is no real lag between finger strokes and the phones reaction time. I only noticed minor lags if I was viewing really big pictures or video and that was only until it managed to get its cache initialised.

All in all I love my new torch – I now just need to get some type of a pouch to work with the slide-out keyboard!!!

BTFD (Byteboy Thought For the Day)

I use Linux on my desktop, yes I am that much of a nerd, so I should by rights be an Android Smart phone fan (in case you did not know Android is based on Linux). However as long as Blackberry keeps producing exemplary handsets with performance and functionality and no bandwidth fees - with Blackberry I will stay!

As for iPhone well the whole antenna debacle really put me off...

ByteBoy Out !

Typing - Get used to IT!

Typing - can't get away from it - so embrace IT!

Are you one of those people out there who uses their 2 index fingers to bash away at the keyboard, your eyes narrowed with concentration as you identify each painstaking key to deliver that faithful stroke?

Whether we like it or not at some stage in our lives we are going to have to type... so it seems like the guys who dropped maths for typing back in high school knew something after all!

There is an easy way out people - its called typing tutors! No you don't need to go back to school or enroll in a night class, where the young kids look at you funny because you are the oldest person there. Just download one of these nifty little programs off the Internet, devote some time and effort, and you could become the next J. K . Rowling.

These little programs are full of ingenious ways to get your typing in shape. They often offer guidance as to where your fingers should be placed and have various levels of skill - so you can start with novice and work your way at your own pace to an expert level. The whole thing is interactive and is able to time you whilst providing visual and audible feedback about the buttons you are pressing in relation to what it is indicating on the screen.

Some typing programs depict a keyboard layout on the screen and randomly highlight a key - until you manage to depress it - and then another random key is highlighted. Some are created as games where you get certain points if the correct key is depressed. Others have different lessons that you can follow and can measure your progress over time.

I have taken the liberty of finding some for you to try out, easily obtainable from the Internet : (a Google for “typing tutor” will bring up lots more)

http://www.powertyping.com/ - this one,works directly within your browser, has progress charts and velocity timing

http://klavaro.sourceforge.net/en/ - the latter can work on Windows, Linux and Mac

I must confess, when I got to university this is how I learnt to type… Now my typing sounds like a regular Girl Friday!! However I haven't lost my memoirs of late nights and high frustration levels as I plodded through essays and assignments one finger at a time! So give it a try you will be amazed at how fast you will catch on.

BTFD (ByteBoy Thought for Day)

If you don't believe me remember what Gary Player said - "The more I practice the luckier I get."

ByteBoy out!!!

ByteBoy's Blog is Born

So what is ByteBoy all about "I hear you say? Well Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear has "The Stig" so why not let newstime.co.za have ByteBoy! Sure they have expensive, cool cars on Top Gear, but we have technology, Internet sites and technical jargon! Yes they have fast, mouthwatering cars that get you beautiful women but we have techno geeks and fun tutorials that make you productive online... Hmmm now that I put it down here in black and white Clarkson has the better deal... I guess nerds don't win do they Bill Gates???
Anyway enough about that… ByteBoy is here - to give you insight and info into all things technical; the inner workings of the Internet , the low down on hardware, the "B" all on bandwidth, the neat stuff on networking, the skinny on network security - well you get the idea...

So what the heck, join me every now and again while we go through all things tech.
BTFD (ByteBoy Thought For the Day - us IT folk love, and I mean love acronyms):

Why are so many IT guys so unhelpful and snooty? This is a question I myself have pondered and can give you the inside info. I have been to the other side (the dark side) and have come back from beyond the veil to divulge the secret of the animal that is, the IT nerd. Firstly the IT community that are in the know see themselves like the Wizards and magical folk in Harry Potter... They have the magic and the rest of us are well... Muggles (in Harry Potter speak - normal unmagical beings)! Well I am here to tell you that you too can become a magical IT nerd and can leave your muggle existence behind. All you have to do is follow this column and kiss your muggle ways goodbye!

Also be sure to point out to the IT guy that he too was a Muggle, once.

ByteBoy OUT!!!

PS – Byteboy accepts all queries, questions or request for reviews at byteboy@newstime.co.za. You know what they say - “the only stupid question is the one never asked!” So don't be shy and send them in!!!