Technology for everyone
Security
My library has an iPad?
01 year ago
I received an email today at work asking about the acquisition of iPads for loaning . Below I have included the sanitized test, names removed to, well, hide the sender.
A college library just purchased four iPads to start experimenting with. Currently we are not planning to deploy in the near future. We will be testing to see if we could use iPads as student loaners in the library. Currently we loan over 100 laptops that are so well used we can’t even keep the batteries charged. Our hope is iPads can replace 25-50% of the laptops as a lower cost, longer battery life loaner solution where students’ needs are primarily web search related.
Here is my response to the question: Do we want to try this?
While iPads and iTouch devices are very good content consumption devices they are in a class of equipment designed to be tied to one account. Other devices like that would be a Kindle or a MP3 player tied to a subscription service. If we were to get into the business of loaning equipment my choice would be to use a netbook with a deepfreeze locked SSD, making it more rugged and less likely to compromise others. These can be acquired for $300 versus the $500 an iPad would cost.
Our support efforts for iPad, iTouch and even netbooks for students would be better directed at providing power access locations, the appropriate file types for instructional and informational use. Also we need to provide better web support, focusing on better information access for a broad group of web browsers, not just focus on how low can we make the cost or how little can we do to provide it. We also need to stop trying to find one answer to solve most needs, allowing the rest to fend for themselves. Multifaceted approaches usually provide full coverage and don’t always require more work, just more knowledge.
It’s not that I don’t think the iPad wold be a good choice for students. I just think they would be too difficult to manage the app access, personal information compromise that could occur and cleaning the unit before allowing the next patron to borrow it.
Your thoughts?
Microsoft fires one over the bow
02 years ago
In an article by Paul Thurrott, he talks about a test, run at Sophos, that points to Windows 7 still being vulnerable to 80% of the virus’s tested. Microsoft responds to Sophos pointing out that it was never claimed that Windows 7 would not need an antivrus solution. In fact Microsoft recommends that you get a antivrus solution as part of you system protection strategy. As talked about in the article, I believe this is bogus test announced just to reinforce the Sophos name as an antivirus solution.
Here is the post that started it all.
Below is the comment I posted at the Windows IT Pro article.
The reason this is a bogus test and brings the trust of Sophos in to question is that they are stating the obvious as a revelation. Mush the same way other companies state the norm as a feature. An example of that is the milk you buy. The low fat milk with 50% less fat, this is they went from 4% in the mix to 2% in the mix. The bigger number makes you feel like it is less.
Stating that a new operating system is still vulnerable to a system compatible virus is like saying the new baby is still able to get sick. You still have to give the baby antivirus shots and still have to take care of it.
As for prepackaging an antivirus solution, that would be great, until some European entity opens yet another lawsuit about unfair business practices.
Secure that computer!
02 years ago
Every day I seem to hear some news about a bot attack or malware running amok. To counter this I have a list of behaviors and software that can help you keep from being the next statistic. Check out the Thou shalt be safe and secure page.
When will you know your computer is a bot.
63 years ago
At last a question!
The person asking has a computer taken over by malware. They tried to recover by adding more antivirus programs but that only adds to the frustration.
I would appreciate it if you would add your voice to an on-going disagreement in my household. My boyfriend has just added a new anti-spy ware, anti-adware program to our computer and it now seems to be operating terribly, specifically, it shuts down every time we try to use the internet. (However, this is a point of contention b/c he seems to think it was operating terribly before he added it – hence the reason he added it – but, I think it operates much MUCH worse since the new program was installed.)
We already have McAfee, and the I think the new program is called AVG. Every time he runs a scan, it reports back that there are numerous pieces of adware or spyware (anywhere from 14-150). He thinks this is the reason to keep loading on protection programs and keep doing scans and quarantines. My opinion is that it’s nearly impossible to avoid ad- and spyware, so why keep adding goofy programs that are supposed to protect us from viruses, but really only seem to screw up our computer. Who’s right?
My thanks
Well I think you may have a couple problems. First, while it is a good idea to have some anti-virus and anti spyware programs installed you can have too many. I am guessing that the McAfee software came with the computer and unless you are paying them it is basically not working. I suggest you uninstall it as the AVG software will report parts of McAfee as a virus, due to the ways antivirus software works. Only use one antivirus program at a time.
If you system is still slow and/or AVG, a good antivirus solution, still reports a virus/malware infection then it is time to rebuild the machine from the scratch. Copy your data to a USB drive and break out the recovery disks. When your system is infected, unlike our immune system, the anti virus and spyware programs can not always remove the infection. The only way to ensure a clean system is to start over and immediately install the anti virus and anti spyware solutions. Read over my pages on security, Thou Shalt be Safe and Secure and Second Line of Defense. If you follow these guidlines and adjust your surfing habits then you may avoid having to rebuild your system for a while.
Thank you for writing.
Your password is what!!?
0We all do it, it’s easy. You don’t want to remember a dozen passwords so you just makeup a simple one and use everywhere. It’s no big deal, until a service you use that was not important is hacked and the “one” password is now exposed and is fed to a bot that will try every possible bank and service to see what they can get.
Another common mistake is choosing names in your life, past or present for the password or reset questions. That was the mistake Sarah Palin made.
There is also the rule method. With this method you devise a formula and use it to make a self recoverable password. The simplest example is the all ways fun igpay atinlay. As with all things that can be made by a plan they can be undone. There is no simple way to make a robust password plan. It will require variety, random choices and lies.
One plan could be to create a tier of passwords:
The More passwords you have the better though. To that end I use a service called LastPass. There are other services and the browsers them selves can store passwords. LastPass has plugins and extensions for Chrome, Firefox and a tabbed browser for IOS that make it a better choice for me.. They have a free version and a paid version with more services. I current use the free version. It will save the password for any site and fill in the username and password fields when you go to each site. They also has a password generator that can create a random password of long length for your protection.