WyzGuys Tech Talk

This week I am planning to pass along a bunch of tips for using wireless networks more securely.  This first article was suggested by an article I read in IT World, and another article that they recommended in WLAN Book. 

If you have been using public wireless networks for any length of time, you are familiar with networks that are broadcasting a SSID (Service Set Identifier or network name) of “Free Public WiFi”.  Many of these ...

A recent article in IT World has described a Windows flaw that can be used by malicious hackers to install software exploits by using a vulnerability in the Help function of Internet Explorer on a Windows XP machine.  Evidently the exploit works when criminal cybergangs gain access to a web site server and install code that causes a popup window to appear advising site visitors to press “F1” for help.  The help they get is a silent download ...

You are invited to a short presentation entitled “7 Secrets of Windows 7” by Bob Weiss, computer support and networking guru, and owner of WyzGuys Computer and Network Support. This will be presented as part of the regular East Side Alliance BNI Chapter Meeting on Thursday March 18^th, from 7:00 am to 8:30 am.

Come a little early and bring about 75 business cards to pass to our members and other guests attending this presentation. This is a terrific opportunity for ...

No – the actor Chuck Norris is not giving a deadly kung-fu kick or karate chop to networking hardware devices  This is a new botnet attack against cable modems, DSL modems, and WiFi routers that use the Linux operating system.  This has been dubbed the “Chuck Norris” virus because the Italian author of this exploit wrote a tribute to Chuck Norris in the source code comments.

Why attack network edge devices and routers?  First, because these devices have a small but ...

I guy I know, Zach Peterson, is a videographer.  He was working on a project for Colon Cancer Awareness month, and was looking for people who had experienced a colonoscopy.  I volunteered.  Here are the links to my two commercials.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ZPPOnline#p/c/4B6C7BC4B887B083/13/92jpiplQ2LI

http://www.youtube.com/user/ZPPOnline#p/c/4B6C7BC4B887B083/14/zEHYhr3Qev4

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, speaking about aircraft design, said "A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."  In aircraft design, weight matters, to fly faster and more easily, light weight is essential.  This echoes the second of Bruce Lee’s ideas in my previous post, “It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”  Both these points are important concepts for any ...

I don’t remember where I found this, but it sure is worth posting.

• “As you think, so shall you become.”
• “It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”
• “If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.”
• “To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person.”
• “Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against.”
• “I’m not in this world to live ...

According to the Number Resource Organization that represents the five Regional Internet Registries, we are down to 10 percent cushion of the available IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) addresses.  These are the numerical addresses that are assigned to servers and web sites on the Internet.  My website, www.wyzguys.com, for instance is at address 74.208.82.191. 

In IPv6 this would look like 2002:0:0:0:0:0:4ad0:52bf.

When I was in the telephone business, we went through this experience first with 800 numbers, which was solved ...

Four years ago a consortium of Internet companies started a joint venture with the Berkman Center at Cambridge University called StopBadware.org.  This group was to become a central clearinghouse for new malware threats and malware infected web sites.  They recently were spun off to become a private corporation.  I received a press release from them this week.  I am reprinting it below.

“REINTRODUCING STOPBADWARE

Four years ago today, StopBadware.org was announced as a Berkman Center project, with the ambitious goal of fighting ...