Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free Anti-virus and Anti-Spyware/Malware software program that is surprisingly receiving great reviews. Surprising because it comes from Microsoft, but if you think about it, who knows more about viruses and spyware infections more than Microsoft itself? The program not only monitors your computer but can also perform scans to remove viruses or spyware.

I've been trying it out for the past couple of months and its been pretty quiet. What I mean is that, I dont notice it even though its always running in the background. Many other virus programs may bother you or bog down your system's performance. Sometimes, I dont even know if its even working, but I guess thats a good thing. Not to brag or anything ;), but I take so many preventive measures on my computer that I rarely ever get any viruses or spyware. So for me, a virus/spyware monitoring program is my last line of defense whereas for most people, it is the first line of defense.

Bottom Line

There are 2 things I look at in an antivirus/antispyware program. Number 1 - It doesnt bother me. Number 2 - It has to work. Microsoft Security Essentials seems to cover both quite nicely.

Put Your Computer to Sleep

Do you leave your desktop computer ON all day and night? Or do you shutdown your computer everytime you are finished using it?

You should consider using Windows "standby" (sleep) mode instead. Here are some advantages:

1. Save Electricity - Why waste all that energy when you arent using your computer? When you use standby mode, it barely uses any electricity whatsoever.
   
   
2. Safer - When you leave your computer ON all day, that means your computer is online all the time. Therefore, your computer can be susceptible to malware or virus attacks. Whereas when your computer is on standby, your computer is essentially sleeping and not accessible or seen from the outside.
   
   
3. Faster bootup - If you shutdown your computer, you'll have to wait at least a minute or two for your computer to boot up. Whereas it only takes seconds when booting up from standby.
   


4. Easy - You can have your computer go on standby mode automatically after a certain period of time of it being idle, so you dont have to do anything. When you are done using the computer, just leave. To wake up your computer from standby mode, you just need to move the mouse or press a key on the keyboard. No need to bend down and reach for the power button all the time. To enable this option go to Control Panel --> Power Options.

If your computer doesnt seem to go to standby mode automatically, there is probably something running on your computer that is preventing it to do so. Its difficult to know what it is, but you can try closing all of your browsers and any other open applications. If that still doesnt work, then you might have some programs running in the background in which you'll need to disable or uninstall. You can also try a nifty program called "Close All Windows". With one click it will close all of your open programs. It will be the same as if you clicked the close button (x) on the top right corner of all open programs. But dont worry, if you have an open program that has unsaved work (ie. MS Word), it will still prompt you to save your work. In otherwords, it will not perform a "force quit" of your programs.

Bottom Line
Make sure that if you do use Standby (or Hibernate), remember to always save your work! Never leave unsaved documents or projects open no matter what. Other than that, using Standby should be a no-brainer.

How to maintain your computer

Like a car, your computer needs routine maintenance. I highly recommend performing the following 3 steps on a quarterly basis. Not only will this increase the longevity of your computer but will also make your computer healthier and faster.

1. Ccleaner - Clean up temporary and unecessary files.

2. Quick startup - Clean out unwanted applications that automatically start when you startup your computer.

3. Auslogics Disk Defrag - Reorganize and optimize your hard drive. If you are too lazy to install this program, you can use the Windows default Disk Defragmenter. Start-->Programs-->Accessories-->System Tools

You can also find these programs in the Free Downloads section on my site located on the right hand side.

Free emoticons for your iPhone

Follow the instructions below to start using cool emoticons when you text message on your iPhone. These emoticons will only appear when you text from iPhone to iPhone. [Source]

OpenDNS

Do you want a boost in your Internet speed? Do you want a safer way to surf the Internet? Read on...

Each ISP (ie. AT&T DSL, Comcast High Speed Internet) has its own set of DNS servers. The DNS server will contain a huge list domain names and their corresponding IP addresses. The IP address specifies the exact location of the website's server. A DNS server is like the yellow pages phone book which contains the names and addresses of local businesses. When you type in a URL (ie. google.com), that request is first handled by the DNS server. The DNS server will perform a look up for that domain name and send your browser the ip address. All of this happens in a fraction of a second.

Unfortunately, each ISP maintains their own DNS server for their users. Therefore, if it goes down or gets corrupted or is slow, the user will be directly affected. So thats where OpenDNS comes into play. OpenDNS is a central DNS server system that is reliable, fast, and safe. What exactly does that mean for the end user?

• Reliable - its highly available and more stable than the ISP DNS servers.
  
  
• Fast - You are more likely to receive a faster response from OpenDNS, therefore, you will get to the website you want to go faster.
  
  
• Safe - They have a large database of bad or malicious sites. Therefore, they will help to filter those sites in order to protect you. For example, if you accidently made a typo in the URL (ie. gooogle.com) it will catch it and warn you before allowing you to enter that website. This is a good thing as there are many bad people out there who register mispelled domain names on purpose in order to attract many visitors or potential victims by bombarding them with ads or spyware.

For those of you who are using routers, the instructions are simple. Just login to your router and look for DNS settings. Instead of "Get Automatically from ISP", specify the Primary DNS and Secondary DNS with the following IP addresses:

Primary - 208.67.222.222
Secondary - 208.67.220.220

That's it, you're done. I told you it was easy. For more specific instructions, visit the OpenDNS website.

Bottom Line

OpenDNS is easy to use and will make your surfing faster and safer.

Spyware: Hijacked Search Results

I had to battle it out again with yet another spyware infected laptop (my friend's laptop, not mine). This nasty spyware targeted a user's search results. Not just Google but any search engine results. It seemed to only affect IE browsers.

This spyware was a real sneaky one. Basically if you performed a web search (ie google, yahoo) you would be presented with a valid list of search results. But if you click on any of the search results, you would be redirected to a bad site. Naughty, I know. At first, I thought that someone had hacked into the router and changed the DNS settings that wasnt the case.

I was able to fix the issue using HijackThis. So now that makes it...Roger 8 Spyware 0.

Comcast High Speed Internet is FAST

Today, I upgraded my internet to Comcast High Speed Internet which gets up to 12mbps as opposed to my previous AT&T DSL which gets up to 3mbs. I definitely feel the speed difference and its going to be difficult going back to DSL. Entire web site pages load between 1-2 seconds.

Every year for the past 7 years, I've called AT&T DSL to give me a promotion and I was able to successfully to get an average price of $15-20 per month. But for the first time, I wasnt able to get a decent promotion this time around. So I ran across a comcast deal for new customers only and took advantage of it. Im getting it for $19.99/month for 12 months. By "new customers", I guess they are referring to new high speed internet customers because Im an existing cable customer and there were no questions asked. Just called the 1 800 comcast number and since I was an existing cable customer, it took 5 minutes.

One of the major differences between Comcast and AT&T is that they use different types of modems:

AT&T --> DSL modem --> Phone line

Comcast --> cable modem --> cable (coaxial) line

So the setup is much easier for DSL because phone lines are much more abundant around the house as opposed to cable lines. Also, AT&T gives you the DSL modem for free, while Comcast charges you a rental fee of $3 per month. That is why I bought my cable modem on ebay for $30.

I chose to get the Comcast self installation kit since they would charge me $25 for a person to come install it for me. The kit contained an install cd, ethernet cable, and coaxial cable. I mainly got the kit because of the 20ft coaxial cable that I needed because my current cable line was across the room. It usually comes with a cable modem as well, but I purchased that elsewhere. The installation went pretty smooth, but since I was using a router, I ran into a small issue in which I to call Comcast tech support. Surprisingly, they were very knowledgeable and not from India (no offense). In any case, all I had to do was power cycle (unplug router for 10 seconds) my router to recognize the new internet connection.

When I tried cancelling my AT&T DSL, the person warned me that if I cancelled, I would lose my DSL email account. And I said, "Oh know! Please dont take away my coveted sbcglobal.net email account". Just kidding. Its funny because I remember this same tactic that AOL used to try to keep their customers from leaving. But this tactic actually worked back in the day because as an AOL subscriber you get an AOL email account. And that was one of the only ways of getting an email account. Remember, that the Internet was just a baby and free web mail providers like gmail and yahoo did not exist yet. You could get an email account only from your ISP.

The bottom line

1. Comcast High Speed Internet is blazing fast but much more pricey.

2. Purchase a cable modem from ebay or craigslist instead of renting it from comcast.

3. Save $25 by installing it yourself. If you need help, just call comcast support.

Wireless printing

Interested in getting one of those wireless printers so that you can print wirelessly? Why bother when you can do exactly that right now? Assuming of course you have a desktop computer, a laptop and a wireless router. For those of you who have set up wireless file sharing with the instructions from my previous post, then you should have no problems at all, although it is not a requirement.

1. On your desktop PC, go to Start--> Settings--> Printers.



2. Right click on your printer and select Sharing.



3. Click the "Share this Printer" radio button.



4. Enter a share name. ie. epsoncx8400



5. On your laptop with wifi, go to Start-->Settings-->Printer and double click on Add a printer.



6. You can either search for the printer on the network or you can just "Connect to this printer" by specifying the printer share name ie. \\yourdesktopname\epsoncx8400
   Replace "yourdesktopname" with your desktop's computer name. If you dont know what that is, right click on "My Computer" icon and select properties. Click here for some helpful screenshots.

Thats it. When you print from your laptop make sure you choose to print from this shared printer or set it as the default printer. Lastly, the only caveat with this solution is that you must have your desktop machine powered on when you print from your laptop.

iPhone Tivo Remote

I just downloaded the "DVR Remote" iPhone app. Basically it allows me to use my iPhone as a remote to control my Tivo via wifi. Im not exactly sure when Im going to use it, but it tickled me when it actually worked. The lite version of the app is free, but the Pause, Replay and Skip buttons are removed, otherwise the full version is $3. I can see it being very useful when you do searches, because its much easier to type on a keyboard rather than having to select each letter at a time.

Carbonite Remote Access

Finally, the one feature that I've been waiting for that was lacking in my online back up provider. Carbonite now has the feature to access ALL of my backed up files online! Now I can grab any of my computer files anytime remotely when I need it.

Wireless File Sharing

Ever want to transfer files wirelessly from your desktop to your laptop or vice versa? Let me show you how its done.

Most likely your home network has a desktop, laptop, and a wireless router. Your desktop is hard wired into the router and your laptop is wirelessly connected to the router.

Instructions:

1. On the desktop computer, choose a folder that you want to share. If you want, you can choose to share your entire C: drive, but I would not recommend doing so. In any case, for this example lets just share your "My Documents" folder.
   


2. Right click on the My Documents folder and select Properties.
   


3. Select the Sharing tab and look under the Network sharing and security.
   


4. It might tell you to go through some wizard, but just try to enable the sharing without going through any wizards.
   


5. Check "Share this folder on the network" and "Allow network users to change my files" boxes. If you check the 2nd box of allowing network users to change my files, you must be very careful. By checking this option, you will be able to change, move, or delete files on your desktop computer from your laptop. If you delete files located on your desktop from your laptop, there could be no way of recovering these files.
   


6. In the Share name field, type in something descriptive like "my documents on my dell desktop", then press ok. Thats it for the desktop computer.
   


7. On the laptop, go to Start button then Run. Type in "\\yourcomputername". In otherwords, replace yourcomputername with the actual name of your desktop computer. You can find what your computer name is by right clicking on My Computer and selecting properties. So for example if your desktop computer name is called "dell510" then you would type "\\dell510".
   


8. A window should pop up and you should see the shared folder. That it! Now you can move files back and forth. Or even open up and change files located on your desktop with your laptop. All wirelessly!

Secure Password Management

So how do you manage all of your passwords? Do you write them down on a post it note? Memorize them? Store them on your computer?

Here's a better question. How secure are your passwords? Do they contain words in a dictionary? Do they contain a mixture of numbers and letters and symbols?

Im afraid to say it, but Im willing to bet that none of you securely manage your passwords. But dont fret as I will show you how. But before that, here are some password tips.

1. Passwords should not be a word in the dictionary.


2. Passwords should use a random mixture of lowercase and uppercase letters plus numbers plus symbols. ie. Ws4d!y1d#


3. Use a password manager to manage your passwords.


4. Do not enter passwords on unsecure public computers. For example, I wouldnt dare to check my online banking balance at the library.


5. Make sure your browsers are up to date with the most recent patches and updates.


6. Dont use the same password across different accounts.


7. Do not use browsers to store your passwords.


8. Do not write down your passwords on paper.


9. Do not store passwords in a Word or text file.


10. If you memorized all of your passwords, then most likely they are not that secure.
    

Here's how I do it which was taken from this Lifehacker article using Keepass to manage my passwords and Dropbox to sync my passwords across multiple computers. Basically it goes down like this. I store all of my passwords and account info in Keepass. Keepass will not only encrypt my data, but will only open my list of passwords with a master password(in which I initially set). Therefore, I only need to memorize 1 password to unlock all of my passwords. I store my Keepass password file in a Dropbox folder. This special folder gets synced to all Dropbox folders that I install on any other computer. For example, if I add a new password to Keepass on my home computer, Dropbox will automatically detect the change and perform a sync to my other Dropbox folder on my work computer. That means not matter which computer I am currently on, I will always have my most recent passwords available to me. The only caveat is that I must have both Keepass and Dropbox installed on each computer.

The Bottom Line
You might say thats a bit troublesome and probably not worth the hassle. I agree, its a bit inconvenient. But did you know that there are bad guys out there who's full time job is to steal your information? How many of you had your identity stolen or even had credit card/banking information fall into the wrong hands?

Usually, there is an inverse relationship between security and convenience. The more you want to secure something, the more inconvenient it will be to access it. So the question is how important is your personal information to you? Are you willing to take that risk?

My laptop caught on fire

No, that is not my laptop. But my laptop did catch on fire a couple of months ago. I was too embarrassed and shocked to tell anyone about it because I couldnt figure out how or why it happened. Until now...

One day, I unplugged my laptop to surf outside in the living room. I noticed some smoke coming from the side vent of my laptop. As I looked closer, I saw a glow of orange. As I looked into the vent, I saw a small flame! I immediately ran outside and blew the flame out.

I thought at first it was a defective laptop. But as I searched online, I couldnt find reports of the same issue on my Dell XPS m1330. Not to mention this laptop is high end line of Dell's laptops. Luckily it was under warranty so I got a new replacement. In any case, I was mad because it could have burned down my entire house.

Last week, I was in my study surfing the Internet on my desktop. When all of a sudden my laptop which was charging, all of a sudden started up by itself. My laptops are always set to hibernate, when I close the laptop lid. So it was a true surprise that something was waking up my computer from hibernate as this should never happen...so I thought. It turns out that I had set my Windows Update to automatically download/install updates on Monday's at 10pm which was the cause of my computer waking up from hibernate. I can imagine it waking up my computer from sleep, but not hibernate.

So it turns out Microsoft is at big fault for this one. First of all, a computer should never wake up from hibernate by itself. I dont care what kind of important Windows updates are needed. Secondly, if you are going to force my computer to wake up, you better make darn sure that you can put it back into hibernate after you are done. And thats exactly what happened to my laptop. Windows update woke up Vista to auto install updates. But after doing so, it failed to put it back into hibernate and probably kept trying for hours which caused the CPU to get hot and intense. I've seen this behavior with my work laptop before. My work computer is set to sleep when I close the laptop lid. Sometimes, I close it and put it in my laptop bag. When I get home, I find that my laptop extremely hot because it failed to sleep.

Bottom Line:
If you have Vista on your laptop and use hibernate or sleep and have it plugged into a power source, make sure you do not use the 'Install updates automatically' setting for Windows Update. Otherwise, you can burn your entire house down.

Source

Welcome to simpleist.com!

I decided to move and separate my tech blog off of my personal web site. Using Blogger, it was very difficult to customize the way I wanted it being hosted on my web hosting account. Its much easier to maintain having my blog hosted directly on blogger. I now have the ability to have labels, polls, and most importantly...archives!

What do you think?

Roger's Favorite Things

Here are my top 5 favorite tech products.



1. Tivo Series 3
Tivo has become the heart of my home entertainment system. Its not just a DVR anymore but instead has become a home media center. Recording shows is the main function, but it can do so much more especially when connected to my home network. Stream video, photos, music. Rent and watch movies from amazon or netflix. Watch youtube videos. Transfer recorded shows back and forth between my computer. Convert shows to my iphone. The possibilities are endless. No need for a Home PC Theater set up.
Full Review




2. iPhone 3G
Nothing can compare to the iphone's intuitive interface. Checking email, surfing the internet, taking pictures, playing games at your fingertips never felt so natural.
Full Review




3. Eye-fi memory card
This is a perfect example of thinking out of the box. Instead of enabling the camera to perform wireless transfers, why not just do it for memory cards. I had my doubts but this thing actually works. Not only does it transfer my photos wirelessly to my computer but it can automatically upload to flickr - my photo sharing website. 2 birds with one stone. Love it.
Full Review

4. Western Digital My Passport portable hard drive
This small, compact, and sexy external hard drive is all you need to back up or transfer your files. The best feature about this drive is that there is no separate power supply needed. Yes, that means all you need to do is plug it into your USB slot (in Windows or Mac) and you are good to go. No software necessary.




5. Logitech Harmony 880 universal remote
You will only need to purchase one of these universal remotes in your lifetime because you can always update the remote using your computer and the internet. The remote is configured by connecting to Logitech's Harmony website application. The application has a comprehensive database of all tv components. So all you need to do is find the new component you just purchased and the remote will know exactly how to control it. Not only that but you can also create a custom sequence of commands to perform with a click of a button. For example, I have a "watch a dvd" command which will turn on my tv, dvd, and receiver and set the correct inputs all at once.

New Years Resolutions

Happy New Year everyone! Im all for making new years resolutions. But I remember someone once said, "I dont make new years resolutions because Im just going to break them anyways". Now what kind of attitude is that? New Years resolutions is the same as making goals. Are you telling me that you dont have any goals for the new year? Are you absolutely content with the way things are now and have nothing to change or to accomplish? Rubbish.

Everyone needs a reboot once in a while and what better time than the new year. Just like a computer that has been constantly used and abused, what better way to put everything back in order than with a simple reboot.

Here are some tips on making New Years resolutions.

1. Make them specific and tangible. The more detailed the better.
   
   • Lose weight - BAD
   • Run on the treadmill for 30 minutes at the 24 hour fitness near my house on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after work. - GOOD
   
   
2. Write them down somewhere. Write it on a 3x5 card or put it on your phone or email it to yourself, just dont keep them in your head. Put it some place where you know you will visit or see often. If you complete or achieve a goal, then check or cross it off your list. Only then will you see how gratifying that is.
   
   
3. Share your new years resolution with someone on email or facebook or blog or on the phone or better yet...in person. Once you do that, it will keep you accountable because nobody wants to be perceived as a liar. Also, those people can hold you accountable.
   
   
4. Just do it. Do it now. Dont think or hesitate. What are you waiting for...next year? The new year has already begun. Go now!
   

Still cant think of any? Ya' lazy lima bean! Here are some recommendations.

1. Complete any unfinished resolutions from last year. Choose that one task that you put off that entire year.
   
2. Clean out your email inbox. Limit your inbox to have only 1 page of email.
   
3. Clean your house. Start with a single room, then move on to the rest.
4. Clean our your closet. Get a goodwill bag and get rid of all the clothes that you are never going to wear.
   
5. Create a work out plan and schedule to lose weight.
6. Too busy? Hire someone to help you and let them worry about it. ie. Gardener, House Keeper, Nanny, Mechanic, Handyman.
7. Plan a vacation. You deserve it.
8. Learn a new recipe.
9. Start a blog.
10. Create a website.
    
11. Clean up your computer. Get rid of all of the icons on your desktop. Reorganize your media

Good Luck!