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Tip of the Week: Be secure when using Gmail in public places
Google's Gmail is one of the most popular free e-mail services around and the de facto standard in the technology community. As with most webmail systems, when you sign in, you are on a secured (encrypted) page, but once you log-in, you are on regular unencrypted pages. This isn't much of a concern if you are in a secure environment like your home or office, but when you are connecting via a public wireless hotspot, this can be a bad thing. Anything you do on an unsecured web page could be potentially collected by others that are connected to the same hotspot.
An easy way to make sure you are secure whenever you use Gmail on a public hotspot is to add one simple character (the letter s) to your web address.
Instead of going to http://mail.google.com go to https://mail.google.com which tells Google to run your entire Gmail session in encrypted mode! Encryption can slow down the performance, which is why it isn't automatically in "secure" mode. If you want to make sure that you always run Gmail in secure mode, you can go here to get the steps to change the settings permanently.
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Headwhack of the Week: Where did my Defrag analysis go in Vista?
Windows Vista handles the Defragment duties completely different than Windows XP did and doesn't give you the same pretty analysis either. Windows Vista performs Defrags automatically behind-the-scenes and Microsoft figured no one would be that interested in watching.
What they forgot was that an analysis of the current fragmented condition of the hard drive was part of that display and of value to "inquiring minds that just gotta know". You won't see all the pretty blocks like you did in Windows XP, but if you ever want a quick fragmentation analysis of your hard drive in Windows Vista, do the following:
- Click the Start button and type cmd which should bring up the "cmd.exe" above in the Start menu.
- Right-click it and choose "Run as Administrator". (If you have User Account Control activated, it will require you to confirm this action or in some cases supply an Administrator password).
- When the command window opens, enter the command DEFRAG C: -A (that's C: for the C-Drive and A for Analyze).
This will generate a simple analysis of drive C: drives fragmentation level and advice about whether the drive needs defragging.
BONUS TIP: If you ever want to see all of the variable "switches" that are available for any command in any version of Windows, simply type the command followed by /? Example: Defrag/?
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Geek Speak of the Week: Textpectation
The anticipation you feel when waiting for a response to a text message or e-mail message. Most teenagers live in a constant state of textpectation!
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Security: Watch out for airline ticket confirmation e-mail scam
Very few e-mail scams get past the seasoned user, but I almost fell for a very cleverly crafted message that came in this week. Tis the season to by flying, so anything that looks like an airline confirmation gets my attention (especially since others can book a flight for me on occasion). Here is what came in that almost fooled me enough to almost get me to open the attachment:
Thank you for using our new service "Buy airplane ticket Online" on our website.
Your account has been created:
Your login: Custfeedback
Your password: passNUX8
Your credit card has been charged for $406.44.
We would like to remind you that whenever you order tickets on our website you get a discount of 10%!
Attached to this message is the purchase Invoice and the flight ticket.
To use your ticket, simply print it on a color printed, and you are set to take off for the journey!
Kind regards,
Ted Hensley
Frontier Airlines
=======================================================================================
The attachment was listed as: E-ticket_N7399294.zip
Because I don't often fly on Frontier and wasn't familiar with their e-ticket process (and wasn't paying attention), I opened the zip file which had the following file in the extraction list: E-ticket_N7399294_and_Invoice_for_N73992943442.exe
Nothing that anyone sends you should ever be an "exe" file as they are executable files (a program that will run some form of code, in this case, malicious).
This was one of the more clever attempts at infecting through e-mail that I have seen in a while and wanted to make sure everyone keeps their "eye of suspicion" out during the summer flying season!
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News: Scrabulous - hurry up and play before Hasbro shuts it down!
A popular Facebook page, Scrabulous, that replicates the patented Scrabble board game is under attack by the patent holder; Hasbro. For whatever reason it became so popular no one knows, but it boasts a half million users a day and that doesn't sit well with the #2 toy maker in the world. They have been making noise about shutting down Scrabulous for some time, but they turned up the heat this week as they launched their official online scrabble site.
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News: Google's Wikipedia rival, Knol, goes public
If you like the collaborative "wisdom of the crowd" approach that Wikipedia offers, but you want more exposure for your contributions, Google has officially opened Knol to the general public. Described as "A unit of knowledge", the website provides a prominent place for authors of information that Wikipedia lacks. If you've been waiting to tell the world about your expertise in whatever you think you are an expert on, NOW IS YOUR TIME!
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Data Doctors Video on Cnn.com: Are online videos dangerous?
From the way back video archives, view our discussion on whether viewing online videos pose a threat to your computer's health!
Watch the video and help our rankings on CNN.com! You can watch us live every Saturday morning at 9:30AM Pacific, 12:30PM Eastern or watch the archived versions of our segments whenever you want at CNN.com/video.
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MacLife: Turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into an iTunes remote
Louis from MacMedia brings us this Mac tidbit: With the rebirth of the iPhone (3G) and the launch of the new App Store, Apple has released it’s own application for the iPhone and the iPod Touch that will turn it into a remote for iTunes or the Apple TV. This free app, called Remote, works over WiFi networks to control much of the functionality that you would normally only get if you are sitting in front of your computer.
For step-by-step instructions on the configuration of Remote, go here!
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Opinion: Never trust a headphone review
Jasmine France pines: Headphones might be the most difficult product to be objective about during a review.
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Weekly Advice Column: Securing your Smartphone
Blackberrys and iPhones are some of the greatest mobile electronic devices ever made, but what are you doing to make sure that all the tasty data that's stored on them is as secure as you can make it, especially if you ever lose it?
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This Week's Show: The Wide World of Encryption
We constantly hear about all of the security issues that surround our digital world and one of the most useful security tools for protecting our privacy is Encryption.
Encryption is just a fancy word for "scrambled data" and knowing when and where to use it can make all the difference in your digital life. What are the different types of encryption? What kinds of devices and programs can make use of encryption? What are the downsides to using encryption?
Listen in as the Data Doctors discuss all these questions and more while winding through the wonderful world of Encryption!
Join us Saturdays from 12:00PM–2:00PM (Pacific) on News 92.3 KTAR or listen LIVE via the Internet at KTAR.com as we discuss your computer questions at: 602.277.5827 or ask your questions during (or before) the broadcast using the ask a question page.
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