User Friendly Computers
of Royal Oak
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Interesting Articles & Information
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Oakland County, Michigan to Install County-wide WIFI Access
Oakland County executive L. Brooks Patterson wants to blanket
all 910 square miles of Oakland County with free wireless Internet
access (WIFI). Oakland County has several web pages on their web site
devoted to the proposed project, including an FAQ page. Here is Oakland
County's official web site: http://www.co.oakland.mi.us/wireless/
L. Brooks has stated that no public funds will be spent on
this new Internet project. The County will instead make existing space
available on County owned radio towers, traffic light poles, public
buildings and schools for private companies to install WIFI antennas.
The companies would be allowed to charge residents for premium services
such as email to defray their installation and maintenance costs. It is
thought that the project will act as a magnet to help attract high tech
companies into locating and doing business in Oakland County.
I found this article on the Detroit News Op/Ed website with
additional
information on the proposed system and their view point on its future
impact. http://www.detnews.com/2005/editorial/0505/10/A10-176408.htm
The 10 Big Myths about copyright explained
This article is an attempt by the author Brad Templeton to answer common myths about copyright as seen on the Internet and covers issues related to copyright and USENET/Internet web page publication. If you are a web master this is a must-read article. Many recent changes have been made by the US Congress to US copyright laws due to the creation of the Internet and electronic publishing. This covers the passing of the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and the Berne copyright convention. View the complete article here: www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html
Antivirus Resources
Grisoft offers an excellent antivirus program called, AVG Antivirus. They are one of the few antivirus vendors to offer both a free Window's version and a Linux version of their product. The free version does not offer as many advanced features as their paid version does, but you can't complain its free and its much better than not having antivirus protection on your computer. You can read more about AVG here: www.grisoft.com.
Symantec is a leading provider of Anti-viral solutions. Here is a link to their website with a current list of Viruses, Trojan horses, Worms and Macros threatening the Internet: Current Threats. Courtesy of Symantec Corporation. This next link has additional information on all types of security threats and exploits: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/.
Sophos is a world leader in protecting businesses against viruses and spam. Over 25 million users from organizations of all sizes already benefit from their software and first-class 24/7 support. Here is a link to their home page: www.sophos.com/. They have a lot of free information on their site about computer viruses. They also offer a free email newsletter you can sign up for here: www.sophos.com/virusinfo/notifications/.
Home Computer Security
Here is a great article about keeping your home computer secure by the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute, CERT® Coordination Center: www.cert.org/homeusers/HomeComputerSecurity/.
The Little Engine That Could
By Robert X. Cringely - May 27, 2004To quote Robert Cringely in this past column. "One of the cheapest Linux computers you can buy brand new (not at a garage sale) is the Linksys WRT54G, an 802.11g wireless access point and router that includes a four-port 10/100 Ethernet switch and can be bought for as little as $69.99 according to Froogle." He goes on to predict that this little wireless router is going to bring down the large phone monopolies in the world. Its a very interesting theory. You can read the full article here: www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20040527.html.
Wheel of Color
By Robert HessHere is a nice article on the use of color as it applies to the computer graphics and artistic fields by Robert Hess and Microsoft Corporation. Even though the the article came out in August of 2000, the information it presents is timeless. This is a must read for any one that is working with web page design, or color graphics. It is presented in a nice short tutorial format with lots of color charts. You can find it here: Wheel of Color.
Color it effective: How color influences the user
By Katherine NolanHere is another interesting article from Microsoft written in January 2003 that deals specifically with the psychological research into the effects of color on our emotions and perceptions and how they affect our opinions on what we view in web pages. This is a must read for web page designers.
I have had problems getting this article to load correctly in Netscape. In some cases it takes several reloads to get it to fully display properly. If you have problems, try viewing it from Internet Explorer instead: http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/preview.aspx?.
This link will take you to another page with 22 different suggestions on how to improve the web pages you create using Microsoft Front Page: http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/.
Prevent data loss on Windows XP computers
with large ATA hard drives
By Scott Lowe - MCSEMicrosoft has come out with a bug fix for hard drives over 137 GB running under Windows XP. These systems can suffer data loss when entering or leaving Hibernation/Standby mode. Since these large hard drives are becoming more common place I thought I should post this information. Here is an article with the full explanation and links to Microsoft patches for it: www.techrepublic.com.
How-To's & Tweaks
By Various ARS Technica writersHere is a series of articles on ARS Technica on how to tweak your PC to improve its performance. The article titled BIOS Arcana: description and translation is a classic must-read for hardware hackers. There are other topics covered including: Home Wireless Security, Video Capturing, Hardware Upgrades and Installation, Home Networking, OS & Software Enhancements, Over Clocking and Cooling, and Oddities & Outside Resources. See it all here: www.arstechnica.com/tweak/index.html.
How To Destroy Your Computer (Humor)
To quote this article on Dan's Computers: "Destroying your own computer is every user's right and is the pattern of behavior expected by the manufacturers and, especially, repair personnel, whose very livelihood is put in peril by those users who perversely persist in correctly upgrading their equipment."
Be sure to follow these instructions to the letter. Consultants like myself and especially computer retailers would be lost, without the steady stream of income from people who insist on working on their own computers. Here is the article link: www.dansdata.com/sbs3.htm.
Windows XP Raw Socket Controversy
By Steve Gibson of Gibson ResearchSteve is a well known computer security expert. He makes the argument in his article below, that the inclusion of raw U of C Berkeley Unix style raw socket support in Windows XP, will make it easier for hackers to turn Windows XP machines into Zombies and SPAM relays. What is a Zombie? Its a computer that a Hacker has taken control of using remote controlled software. Hacker's make use of Zombied PC's to generate Denial of Service attacks against other computers. Here is the full article: www.grc.com/dos/xpsummary.htm.
Steve also offers a utility to turn off Raw Sockets in Windows XP and 2000. You can download it here: www.grc.com/dos/sockettome1.htm.
The kX Project
The kX Project is an independent development project, focused on providing free WDM (Windows Driver Model) Audio Drivers for kX-Compatible sound cards. The kX drivers enable the musician, or audiophile to tap into unused hardware features on the cards the manufacturers drivers fail to use, or under utilize.
To quote their mission statement: "Until now, musicians interested in exploring the detailed operational aspects of their Emu10k1 and 10k2-based sound cards have been limited to either working with the drivers that came with their cards, or installing superior VxD drivers originally intended for the E-mu Systems APS (Audio Production Studio) card, but being unable to upgrade to newer operating systems. In some cases, demanding users have decided to change operating systems altogether, i.e. to Linux, or to limit the use of their 10kx sound cards to tasks such as game playing and Sound Font playback."
The kX Audio Driver is an independent WDM driver for all EMU10K1 and EMU10K2-based sound cards manufactured by Creative Technology Ltd. and/or E-mu Systems Inc., including the Sound Blaster Live! series, the E-mu Audio Production Studio (APS) card, and the Audigy / Audigy2 series of cards (see full list on their site). Here is a link to their site: kXproject.lugosoft.com.
Video of 500 KV Utility Switch Arcing
This short video clip will teach you not to touch live electrical switches with damp fingers ever again! When you arrive on this web page, scroll down to the link called Format 1. This runs a short 10 second .MOV video clip that shows a failed 500 KV high voltage switch test at the Lugo substation near Los Angeles. One of three phase switches fails to interrupt the circuit, which results in a 50 foot high electric arc forming. Turn up your sound, the bass is quite impressive!
You will need to have Apple's Quick Time browser plug-in, or Microsoft Media Player 7.1, or higher installed, to view the video clip. You can download a free copy of Apple Quick Time here: www.apple.com/quicktime/download/.
Be sure to read the italicized technical explanation at the bottom of the page. The circuit is only carrying and estimated 20 Amps at the time of the switch opening. It normally handles up to 1000 Amps! The utility, expecting a problem, opened an upstream oil breaker to kill off the resulting arc.
Here is the link to the main page with the above mentioned Format 1 clip: www.engr.usask.ca/classes/EE/442/main.html.
If you already have Quick Time loaded, this link takes you directly to the video: www.engr.usask.ca/classes/EE/...HV switch open.mov.
Scams, Lies, Deceit, and Offshoring
By John Dvorak
This is one of the more reasoned arguments I have read lately regarding the negative side of off-shoring IT jobs. I can't recall ever seeing any great software products that ever came out of India. However, my guess is that large chunks of code are being written over there then blended into products being marketed as made in the USA. Without access to the source code no one will ever be the wiser. Here is the article link: www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1573102,00.asp
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