WyzGuys Tech Talk

Windows XP is thirteen year old, which is old for dogs, cats, and really old for computers.  Evidently Windows XP systems still claim about 25% of the active operating systems worldwide.  Several of my business clients still have at least some Windows XP systems running on their network, and a decent percentage of my residential clients as well.  After thirteen years, official support for Windows XP ends Tuesday April 8, 2014.  So what does that mean?

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One of the recommended procedures when disposing or recycling a computer or hard drive is to completely erase the existing data on the hard drive by reformatting, overwriting the data or using a drive wiping program.  This works quite well on standard ATA, SATA, and SCSI drives that use spinning magnetic platters.  Apparently, these techniques do not reliable remove data from solid state drives (SSDs).

There currently are no reliable methods to guarantee complete erasure of data on SSDs.  The exception ...

Target Stores stock price was at $67 in November, and fell to $54 in February, and over March has managed to recover back to $60 as of this morning.  Not terrible results for a company that was responsible to the loss of 40 million card transactions.  But their profits have fallen 46% since the breach, store traffic and sales are down, and there are still fines, penalties, and class action lawsuit settlements on the horizon.  The total cost of this ...

A young support technician was leaving the office late one evening when he found the CEO standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in his hand.

"Listen," said the CEO, "this is a very sensitive and important document here, and my secretary has gone for the night. Can you make this thing work for me?"

"Certainly," said the young support tech. He turned the machine on, inserted the paper, and pressed the start button.

"Excellent, excellent!" said the CEO, ...