Begun, The Browser Wars Have
July 31, 2007
As Mozilla Firefox nears 10% market share, with well over 25 million downloads direct from the makers website, and goodness knows how many through other sources, Microsoft announces that it will be releasing IE 7 ahead of schedule. Originally scheduled for release with Microsoft’s new Longhorn operating system in 2006, it seems that Microsoft are reacting to the run away success that Firefox has had over the last few months. But is Microsoft’s announcement just a response to Firefox’s success, or is it truly a commitment by the software giant to improve the browsing experience of the masses?
I’m going to make no secret about it; I am a Firefox user first and foremost. Ever since I first looked at Firefox and saw the features such as power tabbing, proper support for Internet standards and the integrated search bar, I’ve been in love with this browser. To me Internet Explorer has not a patch on the competition, and without a major update soon will surely fall behind. When Microsoft announced their plans to bring forward Internet Explorer 7 I was very interested in what they had to offer. Competition is the life-blood of progress, and if Microsoft were to seriously invest in their browser it would be of great advantage to Internet users as a whole. Unfortunately, I was disappointed at what emerged. It seems that all Microsoft are doing is making some nebulous claims as to ‘increasing the security’ of their browser. No mention of tabbing, increased standards support or any of the other features of Firefox which IE are sorely lacking. To me it seems that all Microsoft’s latest release aims to do is distract people in an attempt to out-hype Firefox.
Most Dangerous Types of Spyware are on the Rise: How to Choose the Weapon
July 30, 2007
Bad News - the Threat is Bigger than it Seemed
How recently it was ? when even many journalists thought that spyware gathers mostly information to be used for targeted advertising. Definitions like “spyware, a.k.a. adware, is?” were pretty common in articles. Keyloggers and system monitors were mentioned as dangerous, but relatively rare. Until the Spy Audit survey made by ISP Earthlink and Webroot Software clearly showed - they are not rare at all.
The results of the survey are here:
http://www.earthlink.net/spyaudit/press/ and http://www.earthlink.net/about/press/pr_spyauditsurvey/
Reading them will be time well-spent for everybody who uses Internet and at least sometimes deals with information valuable enough to be stolen; in fact, it means just everybody.
“Industry experts suggest that these types of programs [i.e. spyware in general] may reside on up to 90 percent of all Internet-connected computers” ? that’s the exact quote. Considering the number of computers scanned during this survey (which lasted for a whole year 2004), there is nothing left but to come to the conclusion ? it must be true to fact.
The True Meaning of Freeware
July 29, 2007
The vast majority of us will have, at some point, had freeware games or applications installed on our systems. If you’ve played an online Java or Flash based game, you’ve used freeware. In a very real way the Internet itself is freeware, a massive collections of scripts, information, tools and resources that are, for the most part, totally free. But what is it that motivates so many people to put so much work into a project, and then release it totally free of charge? There are a few misconceptions about freeware that I would like to clear up.
1.) "Freeware programs are loaded with spy ware and Trojan horses" ? not true. While it is true that some programs contain these types of malicious software, they are a vanishingly small percentage of the whole. The type of people who release programs like this are identical to spam mailers ? criminal and beneath contempt. If you are worried about this then I suggest you only download software from large, well known freeware sites. These almost always check to ensure their programs are free of any malicious code.
Cisco Certification: Introduction To ISDN, Part V
July 29, 2007
The major reason I recommend getting your hands on real Cisco equipment rather than a simulator is that real Cisco routers give you the chance to practice and learn show and debug commands.
The knowledge you acquire from debugs is invaluable. Frankly, itâ??s this knowledge that puts you above the â??averageâ?? CCNA who doesnâ??t have that hands-on experience. Watching debugs in action also gives you a head start on the CCNP. Since 90 â?" 95% of CCNAs go on to pursue the CCNP, itâ??s a great idea to get started with debugs now.
Donâ??t make the mistake of waiting until youâ??re studying for your CCNP and CCIE to start learning debugs and shows. The work you do for the CCNA is the foundation for everything youâ??ll do in the future.
Never, ever, ever practice debugs on a production network. There are debugs that will give you so much information that the router actually becomes overloaded and then locks up. Never practice debugs on a production network.
Cisco Certification: Introduction To ISDN, Part IV
July 28, 2007
In part III of this ISDN primer, we learned that PPP has two main methods of authentication that Cisco certification candidates need to know how to configure: PAP and CHAP.
PAP has very few advantages over CHAP. PAP passwords are carried over the line in clear-text, which in today’s world is a very bad idea. PAP configuration also requires additional configuration with the “ppp pap sent-username” command, so anyone who can see your running configuration can also see the PAP password.
The only advantage PAP has over CHAP is a slim one. With PAP, a different password can be used by the each of the routers involved in the authentication. CHAP requires that the password be the same. Why? We’ll see as we examine CHAP authentication.
The First Step to Configuring CHAP
CHAP requires you to configure a username / password combination for any remote device that will be involved in authentication. (We’re assuming that the routers have already been configured with their names via the global hostname command.) Both routers will use the password CISCO.
R1:
username R2 password CISCO
int bri0
encapsulation ppp
ppp authentication chap
R2:
Cisco Certification: Introduction To ISDN, Part III
July 27, 2007
Configuring PPP PAP Authentication
Now we know how the ISDN link comes up (interesting traffic), and some scenarios that might cause the link to stay up, we need to look at ISDN authentication schemes. The two methods Cisco certification candidates must be familiar with are PAP and CHAP.
Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) sends the username and password over the ISDN link in clear-text. Sending any passwords over any WAN link in clear-text is generally a bad idea, but itâ??s important to know you have this option.
Regarding both PAP and CHAP, itâ??s a common misunderstanding that each side must authenticate the other. PAP and CHAP both support bidirectional and unidirectional authentication that is, R1 can authenticate R2 without R2 necessarily authenticating R1. Itâ??s more common to use unidirectional authentication in a lab environment than a production network, but keep in mind that bidirectional authentication is an option, not a requirement.
The configurations of PAP and CHAP do have their similarities. For both, youâ??ll configure a username/password combination in global configuration mode. Newcomers to ISDN sometimes put the local router name in for the username remember that the remote router name is the username.
Introduction To ISDN, Part II
July 26, 2007
In the previous ISDN article, we looked at how and why one router dials another using ISDN. Just as important is knowing what keeps the link up once it is dialed.
Why? Because ISDN acts as a phone call between two routers, and itâ??s billed that way to your client. The two routers that are connected by this phone call may be located in different area codes, so now weâ??re talking about a long distance phone call.
If your ISDN link does not have a reason to disconnect, the connection could theoretically last for days or weeks before someone realizes whatâ??s going on. This is particularly true when the ISDN link is used as a backup for another connection type, as is commonly the case with Frame Relay. When the Frame Relay goes down, the backup ISDN link comes up when the Frame Relay link comes back not billed for all that time.
To understand why an ISDN link stays up when itâ??s not needed, we have to understand why it stays up period. Ciscoâ??s ISDN interfaces use the idle-timeout to determine when an ISDN link should be torn down. By default, this value is two minutes, and it also uses the concept of interesting traffic.
Who Is Minding Your Sensitive Data?
July 25, 2007
Stealing company information used to be the specialty of spies and conspirators. It was something that only happened to the most powerful of corporations and branches of government.
Nowadays, stealing data is commonplace and anyone can become a victim at any time. The person standing in line behind you might be running a profitable side business stealing other peoplesâ?? sensitive data. The reality is, however, that â??insideâ?? jobs are the most common when discussing business data theft.
Instead of looking through the crowds trying to pick out the law breakers, and instead of spending boatloads of money conducting thorough background checks on all those whom you encounter in your business, itâ??s easier to simply protect your data from prying eyes and malicious intentions.
Easier, yes. But protecting company data isnâ??t something that many small business owners do. Into their computer programs they input their products and pricing, their vendors, their EINs and TINs, their checking account numbers, email addresses of family members, their proprietary information, their marketing plans and formulas â?" everything goes into the computer.
Protect Your Most Vital Business Asset with Security Software
July 24, 2007
Homeland security, airport security, Internet security â?" these days weâ??re literally inundated with a need to protect ourselves and our property from the non-stop bombardment of potentially damaging attacks by unknown sources and entities lurking somewhere out there.
This is the reality of the world in which we live today. We canâ??t just lock ourselves up in our homes and wish the problems away. Life must go on. What weâ??ve got to do is fight back. And we have to protect ourselves the best way that we can.
Fortunately, security is big business these days. There really is no end to the security options that are available on the free market. And when it comes to protecting your computer system, your options are limited only by the balance in your checking account.
So much of our non-sleep time is spent on the computer. Think about your own situation. If youâ??re running a small business, especially when youâ??re just starting out, the PC often is your only other partner in the office. You entrust this partner with every crucial component of your business â?" your accounting, your inventory, your CRM, your communication, your vital documents, your sales and marketing information, your project management, even your on-line store.
Pros and Cons of Using FREE Software in Your Business
July 24, 2007
Itâ??s easy to understand why you might be drawn to the allure of free software. After all, it is free and free is always a good price to pay. But before you plunk down your hard-earned no money and possibly put your business at risk, consider the following.
Most of the free software that you will find is not supported. There will be no one at the other end of the software. What does this mean to you and your business? It means that if you have a technical support issue and you need help fast, that help will be hard to find, if you are able to find help at all.
Some of the more popular free software does have available user supported help groups. These are groups of users who congregate out there in Cyberspace and are sporadically available to provide assistance to others. You can always try to send an email message to the developer if you can find the developer. But because of its very nature as a FREE item, no one is under any obligation to help you with your issue, quickly or otherwise.
