Five Rules for Using Your Laptop On Public Wi-Fi Hotspots
Have laptop and planning to roam? Follow these tips and you won’t expose yourself to hardware or data theft while surfing wirelessly in public. What’s the only thing better than a free Wi-Fi hotspot? Free coffee to go with it, of course. Alas, free, all-you-can-drink java is pretty rare, but free public Wi-Fi networks are easy to come by. You’ll find them in coffee shops, airports, food courts, and libraries, among other places.But are they safe? As a matter of fact, no. An open network is, by definition, open, meaning hackers can more easily...
read moreGoogle: Up to 500,000 Computers Face Disconnection From The Internet
On Tuesday internet services giant Google began warning users infected with the DNSChanger malware that they face disconnection from the web if they don’t disinfect their computer. A special message will be displayed at the top of the Google search results page to users of Windows and Mac systems that have been infected with the malware. Google used a similar technique last year to successfully alert a million users infected with a different kind of malware. This time around, the search giant believes that some half a million systems are...
read moreAged Windows XP costs 5x more to manage than Windows 7
Microsoft yesterday added ammunition to its increasingly aggressive battle to get users off the nearly-11-year-old Windows XP by citing a company-sponsored report that claims annual support costs for the older OS are more than five times that of Windows 7. Microsoft has been banging the Windows XP upgrade drum for years, but stepped up the campaign in 2012, including starting a “two-year countdown” to the demise of security support. Last month, Microsoft was blunt, saying “If your organization has not started the migration...
read moreHow to burn OSX Lion on a PC
How to burn Mac OSX Lion 10.7 on a PC Tools Needed: UltraISO 7-Zip Mac OSX Lion Instructions: Copy “InstallESD.dmg” from the “Install Mac OS X Lion.app\Contents\SharedSupport\” folder to your desktop. Create a new folder on your desktop named “Lion”. Open “InstallESD.dmg” on your desktop with 7-Zip. In 7-Zip navigate to the “\InstallMacOSX.pkg\” folder and copy “InstallESD.dmg” to the Lion folder you created on your desktop. Run PowerISO. Click “Burn” button on toolbar or choose “Tools > Burn”...
read moreBest Buy’s Geek Squad – An Insider Story
Consumerist reader K. recently ended his 4.5 year tenure as a Geek Squad member at Best Buy. And while he says that he considers his time there to be “generally a positive experience,” K. did feel that there is some backstage info the public might want to know. K. writes: 1. A high percentage of Geek Squad employees lack basic troubleshooting skills such as correctly identifying malfunctioning components. This stems from inadequate and outdated training materials, such as the Best Buy Learning Lounge. 2. People are hired or...
read moreCritical Facebook security flaw affects everyone
If you’re concerned about your Facebook security switch on HTTPS instead of regular HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure) for maximum protection. Account->Account Settings->Account Security->Change->Secure Browsing (HTTPS)->Tick the Check box->Save When browsing Facebook at public places such as an Internet Cafe, or on an open wireless network, this setting is a must. With recent media coverage on Facebook’s insecurities, this single setting change can be the deciding factor on whether your Facebook account is hijacked...
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