Techno babel, decoded.

Let me give you the short and simple breakdown. UPDATED at 8:35est 1-3-18: This vulnerability affects AMD and many mobile chipsets as well. This means that basically every modern chipsets and OS is affected by this security vulnerability. Update:This should say INTEL, AMD and ARM instead of just INTEL. Original: INTEL has a bug in the way hardware addresses virtual memory in the chip.   This could allow hackers to access a lot of information that they shouldn't be able to and make it easier for them to take over your computer.  This will affect EVERY INTEL chip regardless of the Operating System.   All the Operating System vendors are releasing patches very soon to address this issue so it is CRITICAL that you DO YOUR PATCHES! On windows systems you are going to take a performance hit.  Your system will be slower after the patch, up to 30% slower.  Mac OS has been patched since 10.3.2 (if you aren't on this version upgrade ASAP.) and Linux s...

So I am pretty happy with most things Google and I don't mind most of the information gathering going on, but this latest report seems a bit sketchy and like a violation of privacy to me.  I am not a lawyer, but the practice of capturing location data even when you have location services disabled is questionable at best.   See this link for details.   google-collects-android-users-locations-even-when-location-services-are-disabled I know that location services can be enabled on a phone remotely by 911, but the fact that my location is continuously being monitored.  I mean, how am I supposed to hide the trips to the casino when I was supposed to be working?   I know Google and parent company Alphabet claim this is to provide the best ad experience possible, but you know what, I don't WANT that good of an Ad experience. I don't want to be tempted by Ad's every time I look at something.   I'm really good at not buying things everyday bu...

Two easy things you can do to help you prevent infection on your home computer. (This assumes you already have some antivirus on there). I don't need to go into details why this is important and why you need to keep yourself safe.  If you don't know ask me and I'll write it in another post. 1.  DISABLE AUTO PLAY!    - Here is why this is SO important!  This is how malware gets INSTALLED on your computer.   You could download an email with an attached file, you move your mouse over the file, and hidden in the information that would display for that file is a script that would auto run that malware and install it on your system.   You might not even see any visible sign it installed, but suddenly your computer is sending spam, or mining bitcoins which you are getting a share of.  (Wow that's just mean.)  The scripts leverage the auto play functionality built into windows.   If that ability is turned off, you have just el...

While I know many of you probably aren't as tech savvy and don't have the need to access your home system remotely, it is very convenient for a lot of reasons. I often find myself using my home machine to test and see if there are network issues at my office.  Or maybe I was working on a project on my home computer and I forgot to save it to the cloud or a usb stick.  With TeamViewer I can remote connect to my desktop from my phone or any other device.   I use the free version since I mostly use it to help my dad fix his machine when he downloads something not so good. https://www.teamviewer.us/ I have not been paid or compensated by Teamviewer in any way other than making use of their product which is most excellent.

Hello folks, I know I have not been on in a while but I had a realization today when I showed one of my co-workers how I use google photos to back up all my pictures and video files!  Yes, all.  I realized what is second nature and common to me isn't for a lot of people so I'm going to resume sharing out my life tips.   Let's face it, what you really care about in life is your pics and videos.  Nobody cares if your tax returns file gets deleted.   But Pictures and Videos, those are our Memories!    Now... When I say BACKUP, I do mean BACKUP, as in oh my gosh my house burned down and all my computers are melted.   This is not , a sync like MS One Drive or Dropbox.    So what is this magical service where I can backup my pics and vids for free? *** Google Photos ***    Yes REALLY!  So for those who already have an Android phone you can set your phone to automatically backup to googl...

Has someone done something nice for you?  Random act of kindness or inspiration that gave you a little pick me up when you needed it?   Did they help you overcome one of life's many hurdles?  I'm going to say something weird, don't worry about paying them back for their kindness or generosity.  PAY IT FORWARD!.   Help someone else out in their time of need.  Smile at someone who is frowning.  Compliment someone who looks like they are having a bad day.   A little bit of kindness can go a long way.  Recently I had a dog who was shot by a crazy neighbor and he had to have a leg amputated because the femur was shattered at the hip joint.  I didn't have the money for the surgery.  We started a fundraiser to help us cover most of the cost of the surgery and we raised a little over $3500 to cover most of the surgery.  We still had about $2000 in Emergency and post care bills, but we were able to cover that.  I n...

The Heartbleed bug has been in the news a lot lately, and there are a lot of technical and poorly worded non-technical explanations.  So here is a brief summary of what you NEED to know. The vulnerability affects versions of OPEN SSL which means that sites containing HTTPS may have been affected.  (Not all sites use open SSL.) For a list of sites that you NEED to change your password on, please visit.  http://mashable.com/2014/04/09/heartbleed-bug-websites-affected/ If you have a Cisco home router check this site to see if you are affected. http://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20140409-heartbleed The bug basically was a vulnerability in an ongoing communication timer to make sure that the connection stayed open.  It allowed nefarious individuals to use this timer to steal data in small packets over time.  The length of time this vulnerability has been on the market is scary.  Please change your passwords so...