Technology Xmas Stocking

This month’s article falls during the “mad” Christmas buying season and for those of you struggling with what to buy your own techno head this article may help with the buying decision. Before your splurge you might want to check out pricing on these components in the various shops.

Audio Gifts

Probably the best bet if you are at a complete loss for a gift.. The “in vogue” words here are Bluetooth and wireless which obviously means less wires. The other term you will hear is “sound bar” which translated into layman speech means instead of a bunch of speakers you’ll find it has all magically morphed into a single unit.

Portable Audio Gifts

I’ve purchased quite a few of these for both myself and the family and I’ve yet to get a complaint. Don’t buy cheap and go with a decent brand. A ten euro Bluetooth handsfree kit for your loved one’s phone will likely be tinny, troublesome and a waste of money.  Other offerings in this area include rechargeable portable headsets (ear phones are out of “vogue”) and portable rechargeable soundbars. I use a soundbar to play my music in the car and I love it. You will pay from €30 upwards. Always ask to “try before your buy” and bring along your smart phone. Some of these portable speakers also sport a microphone which doubles the function making it usable both as a speaker and a handsfree kit for your phone. The quality may not be great on the handsfree feature but if your car is not too noisy it may be adequate to the task.

Non Portable Audio Gifts

Again the sound bar is the best choice in audio but you need to make sure the device will work smoothly with your television if you intend to use it with the tv.

You will find that in general much of the offerings are designed to let you play music anywhere in your home by streaming via your smartphone. The multi-room systems are not cheap by any stretch of the imagination but you can get single units quite reasonably.

Another option here is the combo charging and speaker systems often referred to as “docking” stations. These allow you to both listen to your music and charge the device at the same time. I would always say to listen and find the unit that best suits your ear.

Wishing you all a very happy peaceful and joyous Christmas and New Year

Can a Tablet Replace A PC?

All technology dies eventually and increasingly I am asked,”when a pc gives up the ghost”, if a tablet can replace the functionality of a pc. This article will hopefully help to clarify the differences between the two devices.

  

Short And Sweet Answer

Can a tablet replace a pc functionality? : Short answer: No.

Tablets are not now, nor will they ever be a replacement for the traditional personal computer. This is not to say the don’t have a role in technology but they simply cannot be defined as a personal computer. Hence the term tablet and not tablet pc.

The advantages of a Tablet

To be fair to the tablet it offers some excellent features you won’t find on your typical laptop and desktop. Chief amongst these is its light weight and portability. The reduced threat of virus infection and the ease of use all add to its appeal. You can do some things on a tablet but no all and certainly you won’t be writing your memoirs on it, nor will you will sitting comfortably at your desk researching.

The tablet was never designed to fulfill all the functions of a pc. Having said that the price of the higher end models might lead you to believe they were. Don’t be fooled by the slick appearance and smooth front end. I’ve found many people grow tired of it and revert back to the pc or just stop using the tablet as originally planned.

What Tablets Can Do

• Tablets are great for apps. By this I mean the decent ones you will find on the iphone or google store. These apps are in many cases top class at what they do and rarely crash. There is also a huge amount of junk apps out there so resist the temptation to download a load of them. You will do it at first but if you find you don’t need them go back and uninstall them.

• Tablets are good at reading your email when out and about or sitting on the couch. The caveat of course is that you are aware connecting to hot spots when out and about is a security risk.

• Tablets are not good at handling attachments and you may run into incompatibility problems if the attachment requires a program not resident on the tablet.

• Tablets are at best adequate for general web browsing. I am being generous here as they simply are not good with older websites or websites not designed for mobile devices. I’ve given up using them for this task except when I absolutely have no other option.

I will continue on this topic next month. Happy scary computing!

Oliver Reidy is a computer technician and has been in the industry since 1981.You can contact him via email at help.desk@reidyonline.com or at the telephone numbers listed on this page. 

New Variant of Old Virus Targets All

A new variant of the the virus 'Crytolocker' has been detected and is now loose on the internet waiting to attack your data.
This is an extremely dangerous and damaging virus as it will encrypt your data and there is NO KNOWN way to unencrypt the data. This virus has the potential to effectively cripple your ability to access your data forever. It effectively locks it in a safe and without you paying the ransom you will be locked out.
The virus will encrypt data on your local computer usb devices and network shares and replicate itself to your cloud storage. It operates in stealth mode and will announce its presence only when the damage is done. The virus is now known to be in the hands of criminals and it is anticipated it will be modified to target specific groups.
We are therefore advising all computer users to take the following precautions:

• Do NOT rely on your anti-virus to protect you from this virus. A solid proactive approach should be taken with this threat.
• Ensure that backup devices are NOT left attached to computers or networks and only connected on the designated backup days.
• If the device is a network based device it should be turned off except during the backup time frames. 
• If the backup schedule is on a daily basis the device should be connected at least one hour prior to the backup and on the next day removed.
• We recommend the two copy rule on all data and are advising you NOT to rely on cloud storage copies of data which can, without your knowledge, replicate the encrypted data and overwrite your cloud storage data.
• Be aware non windows devices (tablets, smartphones, iphones) can download the virus to your data and it can later be triggered if a windows machine accesses your data and comes across the infected file.

Some additional Details on the crypto virus are:
CryptoLocker targets computers running Microsoft Windows and runs only on Windows computers.
 CryptoLocker is known to spread via infected email attachments but it is likely it can be found on booby trapped websites.
The malware encrypts certain types of files stored on local and mounted network drives using RSA public key cryptography with the private key stored only on the malware's control servers.
The malware after encrypting your data demands a payment via Bitcoin or a pre-paid cash voucher by a stated deadline, and threatened to delete the private key if the deadline passes. If the deadline is not met, the malware offered to decrypt data for a significantly higher price in Bitcoin.
Files are encrypted in a way which researchers considered infeasible to break.

Buying A PC is NOT like Buying A Car Part 2

This month’s Article is part 2 on buying or replacing your pc. Part 1 can be found on the links at the bottom of this page.

Selecting Your Operating System

When it comes to selecting your operating system you will be faced with two choices. In the retail shops and online you will see relatively cheap computers all with Windows 8.1/10 installed. I do not endorse, recommend, or advise anyone to buy a windows 8.1/10 computer.

My reasons are simple : I don’t like how it operates, I don’t like the fact it has virtually no recoverability, and I consider it a very poor product. Microsoft still sells and support Windows 7 to the business community, probably because technicians like myself still demand it,  and if you take the time you can get yourself an excellent Windows 7 professional computer. I highly recommend Windows 7 and have no issues with this product.  For you, the consumer, you will have to buy online if you want a windows 7 computer and you will pay more for it.

Laptop or Desktop

Without any question a desktop computer will outlast a laptop unless it is a very cheap desktop. The way we use laptops means they are likely to be damaged over time and the fact they use a rechargeable battery means the laptop can fall victim to heat issues. In addition the cooling vents on laptop are easily clogged and again this can and does lead to overheating issues. Laptops tend to get shared around in the house and are usually operated for extended periods of time. If you treated you car the same way it would not last very long and hence laptops quite commonly suffer the same fate. The desktop on the other hand rarely has any of these issues. It’s not unusual for me to see ten year old desktop computers landing on my desk for repair. In many cases they can be repaired. Ten year old broken laptops usually end up in the recycling centre in Drogheda.

New Laptops

The new laptops are nowhere near as robust as the older laptops produced five or six years ago. You can blame this on the growth of the tablet market as laptop manufacturers had to try and compete and in my opinion cut quality to reduce the price. Assuming you are looking for a windows 7 based laptop you should end up looking at business quality machines and these tend to be of a better quality.

Oliver Reidy is a computer technician and has been in the industry since 1981.You can contact him via email at help.desk@reidyonline.com or at the telephone numbers listed on this page. This article, and all previous articles, are available to view online at http://reidyonline.blogspot.ie/ or www.reidyonline.com/blogspot.htm

Buying A PC is NOT like Buying A Car

This month I’ll start with a series of articles in the hope of helping those of you considering buying a replacement computer. The pc market is a minefield and if you don’t do your research you may well find yourself a disgruntled and unhappy customer with little or no recourse. It is very much a case of observing the Caveat emptor (Let the Buyer beware) rule in deciding what/where/and how to buy a new pc.

When is a PC Not A PC?

Time was it was a relatively easy thing for me to describe exactly what constituted a computer and what wasn’t one. Times have changed and the growth of mobile tablet computing has significantly muddied the waters on the definition. Coupled with this is the emergence of non windows computing devices to further add to the confusion. For me the definition of a computer must be a device which is fully independent of the internet and does not rely on it to operate efficiently. Thus all tablet and hybrids are not, by this definition, pc’s no matter how much a sales person insists they are. Once you understand this definition it will make your job in selecting a pc much easier.

Tablets are simply not a replacement for your existing laptop or desktop pc. No matter what device or whizbang you add to them they remain at best a poor imitation of a pc. I’m not knocking these devices per se, they are quite good at what they claim to be able to do. One area where they are notoriously annoying is in general internet browsing and anyone who has attempted to do so with one of these devices will know exactly what I mean.

In terms of providing a link to app friendly sites they do this job well but remember most non sales oriented sites are still not mobile friendly and are unlikely to become so in the immediate future.

Hybrid Devices

These devices are a respond to the absolutely massive growth of smart phone and tablet sales.  They are priced at under 300 euro and claim to provide the best of both worlds. Those of you who had netbooks in the past will be familiar with the size and use of these devices. The netbook fad was short lived due to the limited power of those devices and poor performance. Likewise, I would speculate the same fate awaits these “almost pc” devices.

Next month I will continue on with this topic. Until then seek advice before rushing out to buy that new pc.

Oliver Reidy is a computer technician and has been in the industry since 1981.You can contact him via email at help.desk@reidyonline.com or at the telephone numbers listed on this page. This article, and all previous articles, are available to view online at http://reidyonline.blogspot.ie/ or www.reidyonline.com/blogspot.htm

Smart phones Tablets and Pc’s

With the increased use of tablets and smart phones I thought it timely to start addressing these devices individually and also how you can best use your computer in conjunction with them. Over the coming months I will  attempt to aid those struggling with these technologies to understand how best they can be used.

Smart phones Definition

A smart phone can be best described as a device which apart from providing texting and phone facilities also includes the ability to provide services previously the remit of the desktop and laptop computer. From email to internet browsing to running programs the modern smart phone provides many, but not all, of the facilities of a personal computer.

Smart phones should not be viewed as a replacement for a desktop/laptop computer but rather as an extension of computing services to a mobile hand held device. This definition also covers tablets except of course there is no texting or phone facilities on your regular tablet.

Smart phone Types

Leaving aside the brand name of the phones, smart phones can be divided into three distinct model groups. These groups are defined by the operating system that is used on the phone, just the same as computers are divided in windows apple and linux operating systems.

The three groups on smartphones are:

• Apple smart phones
• Android smart phones
• Windows smart phones

The first two, apple and android, have the lion share of the market with windows holding only a tiny piece of the market.

When it comes to choosing the one that best suits your needs you will most likely be offered the choice of either Apple or Android . Samsung Sony and HTC are all smart phones using the android operating system. Tablets similarly are divided by the same classification. For the purpose of this and other articles I will be concentrating on Apple and android smart phones.

Selecting A Smart Phone Maker

There is no need to discuss this issue with Apple smart phones as Apple are the only one producing them and patents ensure no one can bring a clone to market. The same is not true of android with a wide variety of manufacturers selling various models. As with any technology I always recommend you stick with known quality manufacturers but the market changes so fast in smart phones you’ll be tempted by some of the startup companies. Next month I’ll delve into the differences between Apple and Android smart phones.

Cloud Computing Explained - Part 3

Safeguarding Your Data

If you want to be assured your data is secure you must take some basic steps to ensure that is the case.

Step 1 Maintain at least two copies of your data and ensure at least one copy is on a usb device and is not on the cloud. This non cloud copy should not be readily accessible from any device that is connected to the internet. This ensures if you data is hijacked you have a copy that is not compromised. You should make it part of your routine to ensure all copies are up to date. Relying on one or more Cloud locations to keep copies is putting all your eggs in one basket and is not recommended. 

Step 2. Do not use free wifi services or web cafes to access your sensitive data when you are out and about. This temptation can lead to your passwords and data being hacked. I regularly see people accessing their email and facebook from free wifi services unaware that the service may have been hijacked by the person sitting next to them. Avoid it if at all possible.

Encryption

Where possible encrypt sensitive information to prevent easy access by cyber criminals. At a minimum password protect spreadsheets, and documents. There are several free commercial products available which will encrypt your data and reduce the chances of your data being easily accessed if your cloud storage is hacked.

Email

Email is probably the single biggest Achilles heel for the cloud computing user. Once a hacker has access to it a myriad of information is available to them to compromise your security and get access to your money. Gmail and hotmail are both cloud based emails and I’ve lost count of the amount of people whom I have dealt with who have been hacked via these email services. At a minimum you should use the double authentication services provided. When activated this service sends a code to your mobile which must be entered with your password each time you login. As the code changes each time it is a very good method of ensuring your email is not compromised. Use strong passwords on your email and all other cloud accounts and don’t keep a list of these on the cloud. Finally never use the same password across accounts, change the passwords frequently and never reuse a password. 

Cloud Computing Explained - Part 2

This is the second article on cloud computing, part one can be accessed from the web links listed at the bottom of this page.

Cloud Computing - Plan to fail, Don't fail to plan

The fact, for most computer users, is that some or all of your personal data will be stored on one or more internet servers(the cloud). With that comes the risk that it will be successfully accessed by cyber criminals. As recently as this week the news listed one of the latest attacks on banks by cyber criminals which netted the criminals 1 billon dollars. According to the article one or more Irish banks were hit but this has been disputed in the Irish media.Click Here for the Article

One would think that the banks would be savvy enough to ensure they are protected but the truth is there is simply no way to secure against human error. Thus you need to plan for the worst and take action before you are a victim.

Passwords

I’ve written about this before but I’ll summarize again regarding passwords.

• Use strong passwords containing upper and lower case letters and numbers
• Never use the same password on more than one account
• Never re-use passwords on an account or across accounts
• Never ever store a list of your passwords on any computing device
• Change your passwords frequently without waiting for the site or app expire date.

Accessing Your Accounts Via Wifi

As more and more people use smart phones and tablets on the go the convenience factor may tempt you to access your email or bank accounts via wifi when out and about.

Don’t do it!  This is playing russian roulette with your data and you’ll eventually get caught.

It is amazingly simple to hack a wifi hotspot and redirect user data via your own device. Likewise it goes without saying to never use a web café computer to access your email or bank accounts. As with the wifi hotspots you can never be assured of security. Lastly I’ve had more than one or two customers whose email accounts have been hacked when they accessed them from work.

Next month I’ll finish on this topic and will cover safeguarding your data, encryption, replication and email issues amongst others.

Cloud Computing Explained

This month I will address the ever increasing prevalence and reliance on cloud computing and storage of your data. It is timely as quite often I am queried on it by customers and many seem confused about exactly what it is and how it affects them.I hope this article clears up some of the confusion regarding cloud technology.

Cloud Computing – The Origin

You could be, based on what is put on in the media, excused for believing that cloud computing is a “new” technology. It’s not – it’s been around virtually since the beginning of computers and it was because of the original cloud computing model that personal computers, in part, became popular. Back in the early days of computers, before pc technology, all information was stored on large “mainframe” computers.  The only way you could access it was via those old terminals you see in the movies from the 1970’s. These large computers were expensive and you needed to employ teams of programmers and technicians to keep the whole show on the road.

Cloud Computing – The Achilles Heels

If the mainframe failed you were offline with no access to your information. Cloud computing as we know it today is no different and is simply an old, old idea with some new clothes added. Make no mistake cloud computing is primarily aimed at creating a model where you, the consumer, will eventually pay for that which you have come to understand is free. In other words you will eventually pay to store your information on the cloud be it your email, photos, or data.

Cloud computing requires you to delegate to some unknown and untested entity responsibility for the storage and safeguarding of your information. In reality you were never actually offered the choice but it was introduced by stealth. Cloud computing got a foothold with the free email offered first by Microsoft in the form of hotmail and followed by numerous other free email services.

For a basic understanding of cloud computing and the risks consider the following: It is equivalent to leaving your wallet in someone’s house on the assumption that they will safeguard it with the same amount of diligence as yourself. It is a false and dangerous assumption and the failure of cloud computing security can be witnessed by a myriad of cases where email and storage accounts have been hacked on the cloud.

Next month I’ll continue on this subject with some practical suggestions on how you can reduce the risks associated with its use.

Oliver Reidy is a computer technician and has been in the industry since 1981. This article, and all previous articles, are available to view online at http://reidyonline.blogspot.ie/ or www.reidyonline.com/blogspot.htm