By David Houston on Sunday, June 29, 2008 6:36 PM

I am a PC guy, I am familiar with them and they do what I need them to do, but recently I have seen more people buying Macintosh computers, and being the curious type that I am I ask them why a Macintosh over a PC?

The biggest reason is that there is a belief that Macintosh computers are more secure, and that there are NO viruses or malware that target the Macintosh computer, an this is false.

Even today as I read some blog posts I find that there is a new Trojan for the Macintosh.

Why is there this Myth?

The main reason behind this is due to the fact that the PC controls 90% of the computer market, and in most cases those that develop viruses and malware want to target the greater audience to have the chance of causing the most damage or mayhem possible.

But, Macintosh computers are being more prominent and so they will have more viruses and malware designed to compromise them.

So be c ... Read More »

By David Houston on Saturday, June 28, 2008 3:16 PM

Just put together the test server, a HP Proliant DL360 G5 server, a nice little 1 U Rack server.

I used the ILO (Integrated Lights Out) card to remotely install Windows 2008 Enterprise. One thing to note, if you are not familiar with Powershell avoid installing Core.

The Dl360 g5 does support Hypervisor, but not straight away, first a few changes need to be made in the bios.

To change this:

• Start the server
• Press F9 to get into the server BIOS
• Go to Advanced Options
• Go to Processor Options
• Go to Non Execute and Press Enter
• Select Enabled and press Enter
• Then go to Intel Virtual Technology
• Select Enabled and press enter

You will need to fully reboot the server for the changes to take effect, but you will now be able to use HyperVisor in Wi ... Read More »

By David Houston on Sunday, June 22, 2008 1:43 AM

This is just a quick post about security.

In today's world and computer friendly society a layered security policy is needed to ensure safety when using computers, and connecting to the Internet.

Steps to improve security:

• A robust Firewall, firmware and updates brought to the latest version.
• Up to date AntiVirus software
• Up to Date AntiSpyware software
• Regular scans of the computer
• Proper training of staff on potential security risk 
• A thorough Acceptable Computer Usage policy
• Restricted File Level access with Auditing enabled
• Intrusion Detection/Protection System to monitor network activity
• Restrict computer access, including using token based systems to ensure compliance
• Strong passwords that are changed regularly
Read More »
Comments (0)
Welcome to this world, I will be your guide!

By David Houston on Sunday, June 22, 2008 1:32 AM

If we only realised how dangerous the Internet was, we would never go on there.

There are many malicious sites, and malicious software developed to take advantage of your computers, and exploit the information or the resources to further cause malicious damage.

Firewall is a word that covers too much and has no clear definition in today's Internet. When they were first released they simply blocked ports both inwards and outwards. This is no longer enough to protect you completely.

Note: Some would say that a bad firewall is worse than not having a firewall at all, due to false beliefs in the level of protection provided.

Firewalls improved to allow more control on inbound and outbound data.

But this use to be enough to protect you, that is no longer the case, new sites with new ways of exploiting you are available, new hacking tools to exploit vulnerabilities in software and hardware.

N ... Read More »

By David Houston on Sunday, June 22, 2008 1:15 AM

Interested in trying to improve Windows Mobile?

Tired of trying to get ROM updates?

Do yourself and others a favour and fill in Chris Rue's Mobility Survey. It will take less than a minute and would be worth your while.

The link is:

http://ecycle.blackwarriortech.com/nola08/Lists/Mobility%20Survey/NewForm.aspx?Source=http%3A%2F%2Fecycle%2Eblackwarriortech%2Ecom%2Fnola08%2FLists%2FMobility%2520Survey%2Foverview%2Easpx

 

Chris Rue's blog post on this: Read More »

By David Houston on Sunday, June 22, 2008 1:10 AM

A recent experience when opening Word and Excel the program would seem to stall for a very long time. When checked processor and pagefile usage was minimal.

First thought was the antivirus, this was removed, but still no success.

Next updated the network drivers on the computer, still stalling.

Checked the event logs, but nothing stood out there.

Ran a check disk on the computer, found a few issues but still no change in performance.

Then an error came up when trying to install a program that was an MSI file, the Windows Installer would fail, making reference to an inaccessible location.

I then check in Network Location for any stray network locations, such as share on the server that had been removed. Removed those.

Next was to use RegEdit to check the registry for orphaned network locations. Doing a search using the server name and also the first three octets of the I ... Read More »

By David Houston on Sunday, June 22, 2008 12:54 AM

One item that keeps cropping up in online forums is how after a hardware failure, the server or workstation need data to be recovered.

There are then two dilemmas that crop up regularly:

• Never backed up the data
• Never tested that they were backing up successfully

 

Now if someone has never done a backup then it is either not going to be  possible to recover the data or it is going to be expensive to recover, especially if the data was on a RAID array that has been lost, as to recover RAID drives is very specialised. Ontrack is one company that offer these services but there are others, and check exactly what they offer first and what guarantees they offer too.

Note: If you do have to send the drive off for recovery there is the time delay in getting the data back. This means that an office with one server that has fa ... Read More »

By David Houston on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 3:03 PM

Issues with the Remote Web Workplace and Windows XP Sp3, nt being able to connect to computers in the domain, request to install Active-X components

Read More »

By David Houston on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 2:58 PM

The HTC Touch Diamond arrived first thoughts

Read More »