Well, I will be shutting down my business for awhile. My current main employer has decided to send me to Afghanistan for 6 months. I leave on the 29th of June and should be back by the 29th of December. It wasn't by choice. It was either go or sit in the unemployment line. Computer jobs in this part of the country are few and far between. Hell, jobs in general are hard to find.
I will be checking email, blog and FaceBook when I can. So if anyone has questions, I will try my best to answer them.
Since this blog is supposed to be about computers and technology, Let me fill everyone in on what I learned about global wireless phones...
While preparing to head over there. I did have an interesting time working with Verizon to get a global phone. I had the DROID, which I love. For a phone operating system, you cannot get any better. I searched for an Android global phone, but struck out finding one. So, Verizon only had 2 global phones. 1 was the Blackberry Storm and the other was the HTC Touch Pro 2. The Blackberry was in stock at every Verizon store I went to, but nobody had the HTC. I decided to get the Storm.. Let me say that I have no idea why anyone would want to use one of these antiques. The operating system just flat out sucks. It is completely un-customizable and all the software for it is proprietary and costs way to much.. Well, after 24 hours, I almost threw the Storm out the window...LOL.. After that, the wife said lets go get the phone you want... So I had to custom order the HTC Touch Pro 2.. It's a Windows Mobile Device with WM 6.5.. It's not bad, I had the phones predecessor.. But after having the DROID.. I'm wishing they made a global DROID... Well now that it's close for me to leave, A friend of mine discovered the Nexus One.. A GLOBAL DROID... UGHHHH.. Wish I knew that before... So, I'm stuck with a phone I can deal with, but don't really want..
What's the moral of the long winded story?
Your always happier when you slow down and wait for what you want..
So, I guess it really wasn't about global wireless phones.. It was more of a rant.. LOL
Have Great Day Everyone............................
Tony
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Wireless Networks, Wi-Fi are you giving it away?
I get asked a lot about how Wireless works and what is Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity. Wi-Fi is basically radio waves that carry the zeros and ones(computer language) your computer uses to communicate. It's just like the way your cell phone sends and receives text messages.
When you open a web browser from your laptop connected to Wi-Fi, the URL is converted to zeros and ones then passed to your wireless card. The wireless card converts it to a radio wave and sends it to the Wireless Access Point(WAP) your connected to. The WAP sends it to the router, then the router sends it to the modem provided by your service provider then off to the Internet. Once the information is found on the Internet everything is reversed and sent back to you to appear on your screen.
The radio signal for Wi-Fi is good for 150-200 feet indoors. Five times that outdoors. Now those are published, recommended distances. I've seen routers that have reached 300-400 feet. Your house or building construction materials will change those numbers. If your Wi-Fi router is in a room that has stucco on the walls, it may not penetrate very well because of the chicken wire that is used to stick the stucco on the wall. Or if you put the router near your microwave. It will work great until you make a bag of popcorn. The microwave will interfere. I've seen homes that had insulation in all the interior wall that had a type of foil on one side. Wi-Fi did not work in that house because the foil was bouncing the Wi-Fi radio waves all over the place. The radio waves could not find the WAP.
Most WAP's are combined with routers now to create the Wireless DSL/Cable router modem, that everyone uses. Netgear, Linksys and D-Link make the most popular Wi-Fi routers on the market. All of them are ready to use out of the box and require little to no configuration to get surfing. The tricky part comes when we have to configure security.
Why would you configure security on a Wi-Fi router?
Would you let anyone off the street just walk into your home and make long distance phone calls?
Wi-Fi security prevents people from using your Internet connection and possibly taking your data.
Most home use Wi-Fi routers allow for around 10 connections. Any more than that and it slows down the Wi-Fi router. But you need to take into account that for every computer actively attached to the Wi-Fi router, and surfing the Internet, your connection speed to the Internet will be cut by half.
Remember that Wi-Fi is radio waves. Everything that is sent and received from your computer to the WAP can be received by somebody else on the sidewalk, in the street or your driveway. Stand by your router and look out your window. Try to figure out where 500 feet would be. Do you think your neighbor can receive your radio waves? How about somebody driving by?
I don't think you want your financial or family's personal data being read by your neighbor or anybody just driving by.
Most Wi-Fi routers come with an instruction manual that show you how to setup the security settings. If you don't have a paper manual, look on the CD that came with it. If you can't find it. Go to the manufacturers website and look in the Support section.
If you want to learn more, check out these great articles by HowStuffWorks.com
If all else fails, give me a call and I can secure your Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity. Wi-Fi is basically radio waves that carry the zeros and ones(computer language) your computer uses to communicate. It's just like the way your cell phone sends and receives text messages.
When you open a web browser from your laptop connected to Wi-Fi, the URL is converted to zeros and ones then passed to your wireless card. The wireless card converts it to a radio wave and sends it to the Wireless Access Point(WAP) your connected to. The WAP sends it to the router, then the router sends it to the modem provided by your service provider then off to the Internet. Once the information is found on the Internet everything is reversed and sent back to you to appear on your screen.
The radio signal for Wi-Fi is good for 150-200 feet indoors. Five times that outdoors. Now those are published, recommended distances. I've seen routers that have reached 300-400 feet. Your house or building construction materials will change those numbers. If your Wi-Fi router is in a room that has stucco on the walls, it may not penetrate very well because of the chicken wire that is used to stick the stucco on the wall. Or if you put the router near your microwave. It will work great until you make a bag of popcorn. The microwave will interfere. I've seen homes that had insulation in all the interior wall that had a type of foil on one side. Wi-Fi did not work in that house because the foil was bouncing the Wi-Fi radio waves all over the place. The radio waves could not find the WAP.
Most WAP's are combined with routers now to create the Wireless DSL/Cable router modem, that everyone uses. Netgear, Linksys and D-Link make the most popular Wi-Fi routers on the market. All of them are ready to use out of the box and require little to no configuration to get surfing. The tricky part comes when we have to configure security.
Why would you configure security on a Wi-Fi router?
Would you let anyone off the street just walk into your home and make long distance phone calls?
Wi-Fi security prevents people from using your Internet connection and possibly taking your data.
Most home use Wi-Fi routers allow for around 10 connections. Any more than that and it slows down the Wi-Fi router. But you need to take into account that for every computer actively attached to the Wi-Fi router, and surfing the Internet, your connection speed to the Internet will be cut by half.
Remember that Wi-Fi is radio waves. Everything that is sent and received from your computer to the WAP can be received by somebody else on the sidewalk, in the street or your driveway. Stand by your router and look out your window. Try to figure out where 500 feet would be. Do you think your neighbor can receive your radio waves? How about somebody driving by?
I don't think you want your financial or family's personal data being read by your neighbor or anybody just driving by.
Most Wi-Fi routers come with an instruction manual that show you how to setup the security settings. If you don't have a paper manual, look on the CD that came with it. If you can't find it. Go to the manufacturers website and look in the Support section.
If you want to learn more, check out these great articles by HowStuffWorks.com
If all else fails, give me a call and I can secure your Wi-Fi.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
AD-Ware, Spyware & Virus's
The biggest problem today is the morons on the internet that create AD-Ware, Spyware & Virus's. For most people it's hard enough to operate a PC, now they have to spend 90% of their time worried when it's going to blow up because some 16 year old kid is bored and releases havoc on the Net.
Today AD-Ware, Spyware & Virus's can come in email, from the web via web page code, links or in an image. The only protection we have is products that significantly slow down our PC's because the have to scan everything that goes in and out of the PC. Some of my favorite products are Avira AV(FREE), Spybot S&D(FREE), IOBit security 360(FREE for a short time) and Lavasoft AD-Aware(FREE). These four products have helped keep my systems clean for the last 2-5yrs.
The products that stay constantly running on my systems are Avira AV and Spybot S&D's Teatimer service. The rest I run on a weekly basis.
But the point I wanted to make in this entry was that it doesn't matter what you use, if it's Norton, McAfee or something else. The most important thing to do is keep it updated and check that it is scanning. All of the products show the last time it was updated and the last time it scanned the PC. If the dates are more than a week old. Update and Scan.
Here is one more thing everyone has to worry about now. Makers of AD-Ware, Spyware & Virus's realize that people are more proactive. So now they started making the pop-up look like you are receiving a message from the installed Anti-virus product. One you click on it, your infected. The only thing you can do is read the message carefully. If it does not have the name or images of your Anti-virus product don't click it.
So what's a person to do? Well, be proactive and make sure you use Anti-virus, ADAware, Spyware detection products and keep them updated. Make sure they are scanning. And don't automatically click on pop-up until you read the whole message and can determine if it's real or not. If you suspect it's not real, disconnect your PC from the network by unplugging the network cable or shutoff the router and power down the PC. Pull the power plug if you have to. Then start it back up and run the Anti-virus, ADAware, Spyware detection products one at a time before plugging it back into the internet.
Today AD-Ware, Spyware & Virus's can come in email, from the web via web page code, links or in an image. The only protection we have is products that significantly slow down our PC's because the have to scan everything that goes in and out of the PC. Some of my favorite products are Avira AV(FREE), Spybot S&D(FREE), IOBit security 360(FREE for a short time) and Lavasoft AD-Aware(FREE). These four products have helped keep my systems clean for the last 2-5yrs.
The products that stay constantly running on my systems are Avira AV and Spybot S&D's Teatimer service. The rest I run on a weekly basis.
But the point I wanted to make in this entry was that it doesn't matter what you use, if it's Norton, McAfee or something else. The most important thing to do is keep it updated and check that it is scanning. All of the products show the last time it was updated and the last time it scanned the PC. If the dates are more than a week old. Update and Scan.
Here is one more thing everyone has to worry about now. Makers of AD-Ware, Spyware & Virus's realize that people are more proactive. So now they started making the pop-up look like you are receiving a message from the installed Anti-virus product. One you click on it, your infected. The only thing you can do is read the message carefully. If it does not have the name or images of your Anti-virus product don't click it.
So what's a person to do? Well, be proactive and make sure you use Anti-virus, ADAware, Spyware detection products and keep them updated. Make sure they are scanning. And don't automatically click on pop-up until you read the whole message and can determine if it's real or not. If you suspect it's not real, disconnect your PC from the network by unplugging the network cable or shutoff the router and power down the PC. Pull the power plug if you have to. Then start it back up and run the Anti-virus, ADAware, Spyware detection products one at a time before plugging it back into the internet.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Windows 7
I've been testing Microsoft's new Windows 7 since it was in beta stages. I can tell they must have hired some Unix/Linux programmers. Because this OS rocks.
I've heard many people say that this should be a service pack to Windows Vista. And that it's practically the same. Well it's an entirely different animal.
For starters it doesn't require the high end, amp'd up hardware that Vista did. So if your currently running a PC with Vista and upgrade to 7; you'll notice almost a 60% increase in performance.
I've been testing it in a virtual environment with a 1GZ processor and 512MB of ram with only 10GB of hard drive space(which is almost full). And it runs great.
Microsoft did not put older drivers built in, and there are not many that have been developed, but some of the Vista drivers work. So if you have a 5yr old system, it's a gamble whether it will work completely or not. I say completely because it will load and run, but you may not be able to have sound, or the video will be lesser quality because there are no drivers for it.
But it's lighter, faster and just plain kicks a$$.
In the next week or 2, I'm gonna be testing the new Google OS. I'll let ya how that turns out..
I've heard many people say that this should be a service pack to Windows Vista. And that it's practically the same. Well it's an entirely different animal.
For starters it doesn't require the high end, amp'd up hardware that Vista did. So if your currently running a PC with Vista and upgrade to 7; you'll notice almost a 60% increase in performance.
I've been testing it in a virtual environment with a 1GZ processor and 512MB of ram with only 10GB of hard drive space(which is almost full). And it runs great.
Microsoft did not put older drivers built in, and there are not many that have been developed, but some of the Vista drivers work. So if you have a 5yr old system, it's a gamble whether it will work completely or not. I say completely because it will load and run, but you may not be able to have sound, or the video will be lesser quality because there are no drivers for it.
But it's lighter, faster and just plain kicks a$$.
In the next week or 2, I'm gonna be testing the new Google OS. I'll let ya how that turns out..
Monday, February 1, 2010
Took the blog plunge and USB hubs
Well, I've taken the plunge to attempt a blog. I'm not sure how this will play out, but it can't hurt.
I'll try to keep this updated and blog on things that I recieve the most questions or requests for.
A few weeks ago I was asked "I need to plug in 12 USB devices to my computer; what's the largest USB hub I can get?" ........ My response was "HUHHHH...What? Why?" The person had 2 portable 500GB drives, a few pen drives 1 through 8GB, a webcam, digi camera, joystick, mouse, keyboard, phones...blah..blah..blah.. I tried to tell them there really is no need to plug in more than 4 or 5 USB devices at a time. Any more is just asking for trouble.. Even though, in theory, you can hookup 120 USB devices, doesn't mean you should. The voltage required (.05) and computer resources would just slow the system down to a point of uselessness. Even with a powered USB hub.
Anywho, I was able to find a 49 port USB data hub.. Why would it be needed? I don't know..
But here it is.. http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/05/28/49-port-usb-hub-is-just-plain-practical/..
If you just want to charge USB devices and not transfer data. Here's an 80 port hub.. http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/80-port-usb-charger-on-the-verge-of-overdoing-things-20100129/
Well, if anyone has anything they want me to blog about, just let me know.
I'll try to keep this updated and blog on things that I recieve the most questions or requests for.
A few weeks ago I was asked "I need to plug in 12 USB devices to my computer; what's the largest USB hub I can get?" ........ My response was "HUHHHH...What? Why?" The person had 2 portable 500GB drives, a few pen drives 1 through 8GB, a webcam, digi camera, joystick, mouse, keyboard, phones...blah..blah..blah.. I tried to tell them there really is no need to plug in more than 4 or 5 USB devices at a time. Any more is just asking for trouble.. Even though, in theory, you can hookup 120 USB devices, doesn't mean you should. The voltage required (.05) and computer resources would just slow the system down to a point of uselessness. Even with a powered USB hub.
Anywho, I was able to find a 49 port USB data hub.. Why would it be needed? I don't know..
But here it is.. http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/05/28/49-port-usb-hub-is-just-plain-practical/..
If you just want to charge USB devices and not transfer data. Here's an 80 port hub.. http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/80-port-usb-charger-on-the-verge-of-overdoing-things-20100129/
Well, if anyone has anything they want me to blog about, just let me know.
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