Facebook is finally catching up to some of their perpetual security concerns and is strengthening their privacy policy and therefor the settings as well. It took a while but as of this morning (when I noticed the change) privacy settings have been tightened a bit and are finally working as expected. It will take some time for majority of folks to review their current settings and tweak their profiles as desired, but this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Considering the size of their social network (350 million) and ever growing popularity worldwide it is important to seriously evaluate all aspects of security from profiles to servers, routers, including physical access at their company.
In today’s world you can never spend too much attention on security.

Post from: Milos Topic

Facebook’s new privacy settings

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Over the years I have seen numerous examples of poor computer use and maintenance ranging from simply outdated applications to damaged hardware by water, coffee, soda, fire…you name it.

In hopes that at least a few people will read this and by doing so improve their own computing experience I have put together a little guide on basic, somewhat fundamental things every computer owner should know and do. I guarantee that by following these basic steps you will eliminate majority of your daily frustrations and make the graphic above a thing of the past.

Hardware care basics

1. Computer is a delicate piece of electronic equipment with some moving parts and as such it is important NOT to drop it, kick it, shake it, get it in contact with dust, magnets, excessive heat or any liquids.

2. It is NOT meant to be used as a plate (or a drink coaster) so don’t eat above it or use your greasy fingers to type and touch the screen, that’s not only bad for the computer but it is simply disgusting (especially for us IT folks who have to fix it).

3. It is NOT a litter box or a pillow for your cat or small dog. Hairs and other particles entering your computer can cause damage.

4. It is NOT a toy for your toddler.

5. Do NOT use it in areas surrounded with water: pool, hot tub, jacuzzi; bathroom (for other reasons as well); on the beach (sand is also a no no).

6. For laptop owners: let the battery do its job every once in a while and actually power your computer. Don’t have it plugged in 24/7 or your battery will stop working. Also, on the other hand, do not let your battery die with machine turned on – this could corrupt your data and software.

7. If not using your computer for several hours or longer (over night, away on weekend) turn it off.

Software care basics

1. Operating System (OS) is your friend so don’t abandon it. If you are running Windows, make sure you get Microsoft Updates* (automate them); running OS X, get Apple’s Software Updates* (automate them).

2. Update applications. On Windows side you can use tools such as FileHippo (other tools are available as well). For Macs since most apps come from Apple they would be covered under the above mentioned Software Updates.

3. Install and update an anti-virus solution. This is just common sense.

4. Run anti-malware software regularly (CCleaner, Malwarebytes, Ad-Aware to name a few)

5. Make sure you have a firewall running.

6. Don’t download the internet. Pick and choose applications you will install on your machine. Get stuff you know is safe, secure, stable and does what you need it to do.

An absolute must for all

Another very important point to make (less related to owning a computer, but more to intelligent computing):

Backup your files!

This includes documents, photos, videos, music and any other file you find valuable. You can always replace a computer or have it repaired, but losing a document that you worked on for weeks or months could be very frustrating.

* These are general suggestions, if you need help configuring your operating system to auto update leave a comment and I will gladly help you.

Post from: Milos Topic

Extending the life of your computer 101

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My parents region free DVD player (also hacked a while back) died so I started looking for a replacement. I went to local Best Buy on Rt. 46 in West Paterson, NJ and purchased Philips DVP5990 DVD player which I then made region free the following way:

press Setup
select Preferences
press 1 3 8 9 3 1
press up/down key to select 0
press menu to exit.

Turn your DVD play off. Turn it back on and enjoy watching DVDs from other regions.

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Make Philips DVP5990 Region Free

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Our institution has been using Blackboard (Bb) for a while now as their Course Management System (CMS) of choice with mixed results. Depending who you ask, based on their technical knowledge and their experience using Blackboard (and other CMS solutions) you will get different responses. They range from it is good, does what I need it to do to can we please use anything but Blackboard. Both performance and availability have been known to be a bit spotty and we all know that those two parameters are very important to students and faculty.

My usage has been fairly limited since I don’t teach any courses and my needs are different from those of a faculty (or even some other staff members). This is why I’m probably not the best person to provide an in-depth assessment of Bb v.7.3 (currently in production) and why I turn to those who have more exposure to Blackboard and other CMS tools such as Moodle, Sakai and the likes to hear what your thoughts are.

Is Bb the best or simply the largest solution out there? What are you running/using at your school/work and how satisfied are you with that product?

Post from: Milos Topic

Is Blackboard the best CMS out there?

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For a while now my team and I have been using Xobni, an Outlook plugin that improves e-mail client’s search for both messages and contact information. It also goes a step further by aggregating and correlating data between different social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook.

Xobni also provides data from Hoovers on companies your contacts work for and a number of very useful statistics when it comes to your contacts’ usage of e-mail and sending/responding patterns. It also keeps track of e-mails (and attachments) exchanged between you and all of your contacts in easy to follow threaded conversations.

Due to features mentioned above I find it to be a valuable, fast and easy tool to use. Also, did I mention that it is FREE. Yes, there is a paid version (Xobni Plus) which also includes calendar data search among other features, but the free version is already a massive step in the right direction when it comes to organizing your e-mails, contacts and more.

If you are an avid Outlook user you will definitely appreciate this plugin. Go and get it now then let me know which feature has the greatest impact on your daily computing productivity.

Post from: Milos Topic

Make your Outlook better with Xobni

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In today’s world where network and system security is of great importance and we live and operate behind firewalls, VPNs, SSH, encryption, anti-virus software and many other tools that help make us more secure, it is often difficult figuring out that winning combo to stay safe online and protect your personal information.

One component that in a sense started it all, but is now often overlooked (especially by non-Windows users thinking that viruses and malware don’t apply to them) are Anti-Virus products. Today, they go beyond simple signature scanning and early days of amateur heuristics behavior; most of them also include HIPS (host-based intrusion prevention system) and can even blacklist/white list applications, files and directories. Having said that and considering that many of the above mentioned technologies work on protecting your data while it travels from and to your computer it is still important to have a good local solution for when unwelcome code enters your file system. Over the past several years I have tested numerous AV products and while they performed most functions as advertised I didn’t find any of them to be impressive (Kaspersky being the exception in this case). They are either memory/processor hogs; too slow in updating they definitions or cause more problems then solutions they provide (anyone remember few years back Norton locking down your system and outbound ports if something wasn’t to its liking?).

Here’s where my question comes in. As I look to test new products for both internal use and to recommend to clients I want to make sure we use the best solution currently available. Based on your knowledge and experience even if it is derived from simple observations of what was installed by your IT department what anti-virus software keeps your data secure? Ideally, I’m looking for a solution that works equally well on Windows and OS X based systems. Furthermore, if it worked on popular Linux distros (Ubuntu, SUSE to name a couple) as well I would be grateful.

Post from: Milos Topic

Anti-Virus software

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Attacking the market leader

There’s a new cell phone TV ad where Apple iPhone’s disadvantages are clearly outlined by a new, soon to be released device powered by Android. At the end of the ad they flash a URL, droiddoes.com which redirects to this page and makes it clear that it will be a Motorola phone, running Google’s Android on Verizon’s network. You can also see its features and benefits over iPhone and other popular smartphones.

This better be good, very good

Will this device be able to weaken the iPhone following and take away some of Apple’s/AT&T’s market share? Can Google, Motorola and Verizon produce a device which will outshine all others and become the most sought after phone? The number of questions is endless and answers to them will soon be available once the phone hits the market in November.

I personally hope that we will see the best smartphone ever! Better than iPhone, or Palm Pre or any of the Blackberries, I hope to see a phone I would really want to have. I currently use an iPhone 3G and while there are features I wish it had and things I wish it did better, overall I’m satisfied with it. Other phones are out there now, from 3GS to MyTouch to Palm Pre, but none of them appear to be much better from my current phone to actually make the switch.

Will it deliver?

Looking at features alone it seems like a promising device with a lot of great technologies all combined into one device. If implemented properly, there is no doubt that it will become another good smartphone and will attract tons of new customers or those who have waited for something new to come out (those who have refused to purchase an iPhone so far), but will current iPhone users make the change? What will this device need to do in order to get hardcore mac-heads away from their beloved iPhone? Then, there are people who might switch at the next contract renewal cycle (like me) if they find anything better. I’m not attached to any particular device and will use whatever addresses my needs best, but it has to be better (much better) then what I already have. Considering the number of recently over-hyped devices which looked great on paper, but failed to deliver I’m a bit skeptical in its success. I honestly hope they prove me wrong and produce an amazing device as with great competition we all win.

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How well will “Droid Does” do?

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I have recently experienced pixelation, temporary loss of audio and/or picture with Verizon FiOS which all pointed to signal strength issues.
I called Verizon and here’s the first thing they had me do in order to confirm (or deny) poor signal strength:

1. On your FiOS remote click on Menu
2. Then select Help
3. Go to Self Diagnostics and click start.

This should take less than a minute and if everything is ok all tests should clearly pass and results should be written in green text. If any of them fail then you need to call Verizon for further assistance. Also, note that according to Verizon’s support your signal strength should be 25 db or higher (even though lower db’s might work fine as well).

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Verizon FiOS diagnostics you can do yourself

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Windows 7 will be released into the wild on October 22, 2009 and will bring many improvements over Vista while simultaneously introducing new features. Being in the IT field I was fortunate enough to play with Windows 7 since its early RC days and must say that it is (or soon will be) the best operating system released by Microsoft to date.

From graphical interface, to stability, reliability, responsiveness and features to the overall user experience, I believe that it will be a welcomed change for all users (especially those still running Windows XP).

When it comes to enterprise users they will have even greater benefits (some mostly appreciated by IT staff) such as

AppLocker (“Specify what software is allowed to run on a user’s PCs through centrally managed but flexible Group Policies.*“)
BitLocker / BitLocker To Go (“Help protect data on PCs and removable drives, with manageability to enforce encryption and backup of recovery keys.“)
DirectAccess (“Give mobile users seamless access to corporate networks without a need to VPN.*“)
BranchCache (“Decrease the time branch office users spend waiting to download files across the network.*“)
Federated Search (“Find information in remote repositories, including SharePoint sites, with a simple user interface.*“)
* all descriptions taken from Microsoft.com

These are just a few new (or improved) features introduced in Windows 7 and they alone warrant an investment in this new operating system. In addition to new features, stability and responsiveness is significantly improved over Vista which should make many people smile.

So my answer is yes. The wait will be well worth it for all Windows users especially considering the PR nightmare caused with their previous half-baked OS.

Post from: Milos Topic

Windows 7 is almost here, but will it be worth the wait?

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It’s been a while since I went to a real professional conference (been to a number of one day seminars, presentations and demos), but not a real targeted conference. I think it’s time to change this and become more involved in the technology world outside my immediate area.
Also, considering that I’m planning to introduce additional improvements within our team getting involved in industry specific conferences in order to educated myself further and see what’s out there could prove beneficial to us.

I’ve looked into several conferences ranging from information technology in higher education to the technology industry in general. Some focus on applications, others on servers, some on web content while a few are technology support (help desk) driven. While they are all interesting to me I would like to narrow it down to a conference or two that I should try to attend next year. Here’s where I need your suggestions. Please share your experiences and knowledge when it comes to conferences that someone with the following focus can benefit from:

- Information technology in higher education
- Management of people, processes and technology
- Focus on technology support and process improvements
- Introducing new technologies and tools to improve user experience and internal operational environment

Even if you have only heard from your colleagues of a particular conference, but haven’t attended it yourself mention it here so that I could keep it as an option. Since in higher ed (and most other industries today) there is no money to waste and I would like to provide a tangible ROI to our college and as such this conference needs to be valuable.

As you can see, I haven’t listed any conferences I’m currently considering as I didn’t want to influence your opinions and suggestions.

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Selecting the most valuable conference to attend

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