MsOffice Accounting Express 2007

Microsoft has released a free, crippled version of its Accounting Professional application called MsOffice Accounting Express 2007. The application functions like QuickBooks for the small business and looks and feels like an Office application but is integrated with other Office products. It also has Payroll functionality through ADP subscription services. The beta for Accounting ends [...]

A DoS Explainer

Bots and botnets are in the news – so I thought I’d take a few minutes to talk about DDoS attacks. A DoS (Denial of Service) attack is characterized by one computer transmitting a lot of meaningless requests to another computer, typically a server. In attempting to respond to every meaningless request, the server is [...]

Control Online Privacy (COP) Methods

Take Control of Your Online Privacy Okay, you probably already know this: the Internet is really insecure. The stuff that drives the Internet was originally designed to interconnect teletype machines on military bases and wasn’t designed for security in mind; security, in fact, came later in the form of network filters and encryption solutions. Security, [...]

Choice of Linux

From a reader: Hi,I was just reading your blog and since I am building a new computer from the ground up, I have been toying with the idea of using Linux Fedor Core 5/6 (?). What are your thoughts on Linux and what version if any would you suggest for a person who at time [...]

Avoid the Smelly eBay Phishing Scam

The subject today is eBay phishing! It seems like this thing is going around more and more. I think everyone knows what phishing is: scammers attempt to get someone to click on a hyperlink in an email that brings to them to a private server which attempts to collect PPI (Personal Private Information). What a [...]

iPods Shipped with RavMonE.exe Virus

Today, Apple admitted that, since September 12, approximately 1-percent of their video iPods have been shipped with a virus capable of infecting Windows-based PC’s. RavMonE.exe is a harmful spyware that also goes by other aliases (WORM_SIWEOLA and worm.win32.r.jump.a) that operates like a trojan. It opens up a computer so that other computers can see that [...]

Five Reasons Why Microsoft’s Support Constraints are Good for Small Business

By mid-October 2006, Microsoft had announced the end of support for Windows XP Service Pack 1. Over the last few years, Microsoft has taken steps to abandon support for Windows9x, ME, and NT 3.x. Some may balk at Microsoft’s decisions to constrain support in this way as it prevents Microsoft’s web-based update service from downloading [...]

Microsoft Releases Vista Update Tool

A couple of Microsoft Vista links: 1. Microsoft Upgrade Advisor A downloadable upgrade advisor application is available from Microsoft:http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/upgradeadvisor/default.mspx This tool can be used to analyze the target computer’s readiness for Vista. 2. Vista Minimum Requirements http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/capable.mspx 3. Download Vista Download Vista and install the Release Candidate to your own computer. WARNING: This is a [...]

Bring IE7 into a Compatibility State

Many end-users may not prefer the new look and feel of the Internet Explorer 7 Browser. Unlabeled icons, small icons, unnecessary icons like the RSS feeds, multiple tabs, and a missing toolbar may truly irritate some users. Here’s how to put IE7 into a reasonable compatibility look and feel to IE6. 1. Open IE7 and [...]

Microsoft Announces End of Windows XP SP 1 Support

According to a US-CERT security bulletin on October 10, 2006: On October 10, 2006, Microsoft will end all public assisted support for Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1). After this date, Microsoft will no longer provide any incident support options or security updates for this retired service pack under the policies defined by the Microsoft [...]