Pages Tagged “Computers”
Tech Tips
- WordPress Name+Number Login/Registration Attacks I was seeing a lot of brute force login attacks with odd usernames, and found that they were actually trying to register and kept trying the wrong form.
Blog Posts
- Manic Monday
First, some linkblogging… The Spam Primer has been “completely revamped.” Mars Express Orbiter catches video of moons Phobos and Deimos. And then the “fun” started. Me: I’m going to focus on project X today! Computer needed for project X: I’m going to lock up today! Me: Argh! Someone thought it would be a good idea […]
- Most intrusive PC upgrades
Just some thoughts on the top 3 most intrusive pieces of computer hardware to upgrade or replace: Case: You have to take everything out, completely disassembling the machine. Motherboard: Disconnect every data cable, pull out every card, and sometimes even move the spacers that connect it to the case. Power Supply: Disconnect power from every […]
- Don’t Hurt the Web
The Mozilla Developer Center has just posted some desktop wallpaper promoting open standards, (and the MDC itself) with the theme, “Please don’t hurt the web. Use open standards.” Apparently the design was a big hit as a poster at SXSW. For those who haven’t seen it, the MDC is a great developer resource for web […]
- The Terabytes are coming!
A few months ago, I saw a 500-gigabyte hard drive at Fry’s. That’s when I realized that terabyte* drives were not far away. Oh, sure, you’ve been able to put together multi-terabytes of storage using RAID arrays and clusters, but we’re talking something the average consumer will be able to walk into a store and […]
- Ahead of their time
Remember when the web was young, and email was just gaining popularity in the mainstream, and there was a slew of virus hoaxes like the Good Times Virus, or It Takes Guts to Say Jesus, or Elf Bowling? Remember painstakingly explaining to people that no, your computer couldn’t get a virus just by reading an […]
- Browser War, OS War
It occurred to me today that if you lay out the three major players in computer operating systems and the three major players in web browsers, the results track remarkably well. Windows and Internet Explorer. The dominant player. Obtained that position by being good enough, cheap enough, and promoted enough to win a protracted two-way […]
- Fragile Tech
I got into work this morning to find my desk’s keyboard and KVM switch non-responsive. The only way to reset the switch was to turn it off and back on, which meant disconnecting all the keyboard and mouse cables. (A KVM switch doesn’t need much power, so many of them just draw power from the […]
- Subtle Update Hint
Something that could help with the ever-shrinking window between turning on a new (Windows) computer and getting hacked by some automatic probe is to just make downloading security updates part of the setup process. I installed two Linux distributions this weekend, Mandrake 10.1 and SuSE 9.2, and both did this. What I liked about the […]
- Warspamming
Via Email Battles: First ‘warspamming’ case reaches court. Basically the guy (allegedly) drove around LA with a laptop looking for insecure wireless networks, then connected to them and sent spam using people’s home accounts. The term comes from wardriving — driving around looking for unsecured networks — and warchalking — marking walls or sidewalks to […]
- Check the wording!
Oh, this is good! You may have heard a few days ago that the latest MyDoom variant includes a request for work in the antivirus industry. Well, the comic strip User Friendly has come up with the perfect solution!
- Internet Security Perspectives
When I worked at a computer lab in college, the main security focus was preventing lab visitors from screwing around too much with the computers. We just ran Windows NT and locked it down as hard as possible. The worst network-based threat I remember facing was WinNuke, and that was just as likely to be […]
- Why I chose Netgear
I should’ve written this up when we bought it, but there are two main reasons I went with the Netgear WGT624 router over another brand with similar features. First: familiarity. Since I hadn’t researched specific models, I wanted a brand I knew or had used before. This meant Netgear, Linksys, or Belkin. Belkin was out […]
- Now that’s just sad.
I just came across an article on non-password authentication that refers back to an April 2004 survey of office workers which found that “71% were willing to part with their password for a chocolate bar.” Wow. I know they say everyone has their price, but this is ridiculous. It reminds me of the comic book […]
- Worst. Computer Store Name. Ever!
Another gem from Joshua Tree (actually Yucca Valley), courtesy of Jason, who first spotted it: