Personal Computing Demystified.
Neilster1
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Posts by Neilster1
Know your Antivirus/Anti-Spyware software..
0I got a call from a very freaked-out relative a few weeks ago.. this person was very, very worried because out of the blue a program was telling them that they had a ton of viruses on their system and they were being warned that their personal banking information had been exposed to hackers. I got this person to calm down a bit and asked if they had clicked on anything in that window.. and luckily they hadn’t. This person had nearly fallen prey to a type of potential malware called “scareware”.
What is “Scareware”, you ask? Technically speaking.. it is a piece of software designed to fool the average computer user into paying for a service that they don’t need by convincing them that they do in fact need what the scammer is selling. The most common scareware I’ve seen in the past few months is the very same one that my relative stumbled upon.. a fake antivirus program that looks very, very real – all the way down to the Windows Vista-styled icons. In this case the fake AV program was only a pop-up ad, albeit a very dangerous one.. click anywhere in the window and, voila – spyware infection. This is the very reason that you need to know exactly what antivirus and anti-spyware you have installed on your system.. if something different comes up you can kill it via the Windows taskbar.
If you’re not sure what antivirus or anti-spyware software you’re currently running is called I’ll be happy to help you.. just drop me a line.
Continuous Ink Systems for EPSON Printers
0679 days
by Neilster1
in Personal Computing
We have a perennial problem at my house when it comes to printing.. we always seem to be out of ink. My wife is a Mary Kay consultant (ladies.. she would love to be your consultant if you don’t have one – go to www.marykay.com/lderryberry) and has a need to print out tons of color flyers, many times on demand. I don’t care whose printer you use – ink is expensive. It is honestly cheaper many times to trash your printer and buy a new one each time you run out of ink because the hardware is a loss leader – the real money is in the ink.
Enter the Continuous Ink System, or CIS. A CIS is a set of ink tanks, attached tubing and dummy print cartridges that are designed to fool your printer into thinking that the ink cartridges are always full. The printer ink is stored in the outboard ink tanks and is delivered to the dummy cartridges via the tubing. CIS systems ship with a full set of ink tanks – that’s the equivalent of about 8 standard-capacity ink cartridges for each cartridge color.. all for about 36 bucks. The cost savings is staggering when you consider that the 4-cartridge system that most printers today use cost about $17 each ($68 for a complete set of cartridges) times 8.. $544 worth of ink. Damn.
The ease of installing these systems really depends on your printer. I prefer Epson printers and is seems that most Epsons are fairly easy to install the CIS on. Bear in mind that with most printers you’ll have to leave the cover open so take a long hard look at your printer before you buy – all-in-one printers might not be the best choice if you do a lot of scanning. Print quality seems to be the same as standard cartridges out of the box, but here’s where you can improve upon the CIS system. You can buy higher-quality ink if necessary so you can really fine-tune your colors.
I’ll put a plug in for the ebay seller I bought my system from.. the ebay store is buyinknow123 and they are located in New York. The provided instructions were top-notch and they offer support after the sale if you need it.
Happy Printing!
Are you a Comcast subscriber? Read on about your AV protection..
2746 days
Many Internet service providers bundle antivirus protection in their service offerings for high-speed Internet service.. and Comcast is no exception. I heard rumblings that Comcast was making a change to the software that they provide so I had to check it out for myself. What I heard was indeed true.. Comcast has apparently dropped McAfee for Symantec! This is good news for many for several reasons :
- McAfee was a pretty sorry product in my opinion. I’m basing that solely on my personal experience.
- Easily 90% of the systems I see in my consulting practice are running a version of Norton that isn’t being updated because the user won’t pony up the cash for a subscription.
- There’s a Mac version!
With this new offering brings a new concern.. since Comcast has apparently ended their relationship with McAfee, how long until current McAfee users stop getting virus definition updates? I’ve got a Comcast source I’m going to engage to see if I can get an answer to that question. Mind you, I’m sure that it isn’t going to be a question of if.. it will certainly be when. Stay tuned for the answer on that.
Bottom line.. you should switch. Go to http://security.comcast.net for more info.
PS.. happy 2010! I haven’t posted in over a month, sorry for that. Things are incredibly busy at work, and honestly – I just don’t want to look at a computer once I make it home. Even as I type I’m out of town on business.
See you round the Internets!
