Help the Victims of Hurricane Katrina

The devastation and victims of those in the path of Katrina our in all of our thoughts.

Below are online resources available for ways that you can help. The Red Cross is an excellent place to begin. They have a number of resources and information regarding donations that can help.

Other online resources:

• Network For Good offers a multitude of organizations and resources available to help with the devastation wrought by Katrina.
• The Red Cross website will have complete details.
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is another excellent resource.

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Cook Group Technology, LLC

Sage Advice - Backup Your Data!

From the Desk of David Pogue from nytimes.com:

Another Reminder to Back Up by David Pogue:
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You know, you can only be lucky for so long. In the case of my Dell PC, that was about a year and a half. I came to my desk one morning, turned it on, and got this message on the screen: "DISK READ ERROR. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.

"Dell's technicians, in thick Bombay accents, directed me to perform a number of tweaks, tests and experiments. After several hours, they announced that the hard drive must have died, and everything on it was lost.Now, I do back up my My Documents folder. So I had a safety copy of all my books, columns, music and pictures. And I have my original installation discs for all my programs.

But I suddenly I remembered two items that Windows does not keep in My Documents: First, my Outlook message database, containing about 2,000 recent e-mail messages from readers to whom I hadn't yet replied (sorry, gang!). Second, the voice files for Dragon NaturallySpeaking, the program I use to dictate my books and e-mail. Over the years, I've added hundreds of customized terms and commands, and honed the accuracy to a shine by making thousands of individual corrections. They were gone. Needless to say, I was DEEPLY annoyed.

Entire article here.

Wi-Fi Hotspot - to go?

This is a must read... prices are sure to come down...

Be Your Own Hotspot:
Turn a backpack into a portable, solar-powered Wi-Fi hotspot, and share a high-speed connection anywhere
By Mike Outmesguine
Mike Outmesguine

I love the fact that more and more devices are sporting built-in Wi-Fi—the Sony PSP, smartphones, even Kodak’s EasyShare-One digital camera. The lone hitch: Wi-Fi is useless without a hotspot. Sure, thousands of spots are available, but few are free, and coverage is far from ubiquitous. What if you could marry the short-range power of Wi-Fi with the huge coverage areas of high-speed cellular services such as EV-DO to create a portable hotspot? You could use any Wi-Fi-enabled gadget anywhere you’ve got a cell signal. Play multiplayer games with friends in the park, or blog an event in real-time. Since EV-DO works at freeway speeds, you could even give Internet access to an entire road-trip caravan.

Those are exactly the kinds of things you can do with the backpack below. Its secret ingredient: the Junxion Box. Plug a cellular-network card into the book-size open-source-based device, and voilà—instant Wi-Fi hotspot

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how2/article/0,20967,1076525,00.html

VoIP and security issues, more in the future?

food for thought...

Apple re-releases critical security patch

Apple re-releases critical security patchTechworld.com
8/19/2005
Matthew Broersma, Techworld.com

Apple has re-released a mammoth security patch after the original update broke 64-bit applications.

Version 1.1 of Security Update 2005-007 is now available from Apple's website or via the Mac OS X "Tiger" automatic update system.

The original Security Update 2005-007, released on Monday, fixed errors in more than 40 components, some of them with critical flaws.

Among those elements affected were AppKit, BlueTooth, CoreFoundation, cups, Directory Services, HIToolBox, Kerberos, loginwindow, Mail, OpenSSL, QuartzComposerScreenSaver, Security Interface, Safari, X11 and zlib.

But the update also rendered 64-bit optimized applications unusable, causing thousands of companies to field calls from angry customers, and Apple was forced to withdraw the patch. Full article.

The Little Worm that Could (Zotob)

Although announced yesterday as a worm that was not causing many problems apparently has hit some companies big...

Worm Hits TV Networks, N.Y. Times
By Brian Krebs and Mike Musgrove
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, August 17, 2005

A new Internet worm infected and disrupted computers and networks at CNN, ABC and the New York Times yesterday.

Security experts said the worm is a variant of Zotob, which first appeared on Sunday and does not limit its attack to media companies. Zotob infected computers running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 2000 operating system. A spokeswoman for Microsoft said yesterday that the company does not know yet whether the new software, which it has named worm_rbot.ceq, is a version of that worm. Full article.

NOTE: David Perry, of TrendMicro, said "that the authors of Zotob, on learning of the vulnerability, had apparently created an effective worm in only a few days, making it one of the "fastest turnarounds" for such an effort.

Graphic of worm functionality from TrendMicro:

Zotob Worm - Quick on Internet just after MS patch release

Zotob worm finds its path limited

By Joris Evers, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: August 15, 2005, 4:25 PM PT

A new worm that was unleashed over the weekend affects only a limited group of Windows users and has not wreaked any widespread havoc, according to Trend Micro. Full article.
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NOTE: This worm did come out only days after the patches were released by Microsoft. Yet another reason that patches should be applied shortly after release and testing.

Wireless Networking - Questions Answered!

Great article by Andrew Z. Tabona from www.windowsnetworking.com

Wireless Networking - Your Questions Answered!

This article is dedicated to answering a selection of the questions I received from WindowsNetworking.com readers by e-mail. Unfortunately I do not have time to answer all of your e-mails individually so I have decided to do so here in the form of an article for everyone's benefit. I have left out all the unnecessary information and just extracted the main points and the question itself, rather than the whole e-mail message.

Here are the common questions and answers.

Protect Yourself Against Wi-Fi Bandwidth Vampires

Protect Yourself Against Wi-Fi Bandwidth Vampires

By Matthew Friedman
Courtesy of Networking Pipeline

Wireless networking can open up the enterprise network to all kinds of viruses, malware and black hat hackers. It's not as tough as you think to get protection --- here's what you should do. Full article.

MS to Reissue W2k SP4 - Rollup patch problems for customers

* Microsoft Will Reissue W2K SP4

Redmond is going to roll out a new version of SP4. Quite a bit of problems are dogging users who have installed the SP4 update rollup that was released late June instead of SP5. A bunch of problems with third-party security apps and stuff like network-printing issues have surfaced.

As you all know, Redmond ended mainstream support for W2K client and server on June 30.On their website they said: "We plan to reissue Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 SP4 soon. Several hotfixes will be integrated into the new version of Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 SP4," They also mentioned that the problems with the Rollup are "isolated" and "affect few customers." You are advised to again, as usual, TEST, TEST, TEST and check the known bugs at:http://www.w2knews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=050815RN-W2K_SP4

One in 4 Spams Is Now Malicious

From w2knews.com:

* One In 4 Spams Is Now Malicious

Yes, the topic is getting a little tired, however the Spam problemcontinues to get worse. Now one in 4 spams carries some kind of malicious payload. Either a virus is attached, it sends the user to a spyware site, or it has links in it that could lead to ID theft. Jeez, it's getting uglier out there by the year. You wonder if these guys could get a real job and spend all that brainpower for something a bit more constructive than fraud!

Fewer women find there way into tech

Fewer women find their way into tech

By Bob Mook
The Denver Business Journal

Updated: 8:00 p.m. ET Aug. 14, 2005

The number of women considering careers in information technology has dropped to its lowest level since the mid-1970s -- and one local nonprofit organization intends to do something about it.

Based at the University of Colorado in Boulder, the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) wants to know why women are losing interest in technology -- and what can be done to bring them back. Entire article.

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All I can tell you is there are very few women IT consultants and I'm asked constantly why that is. There are a LOT of women high level IT tech writers for sure. A GREAT website for Exchange is run by a one of the best. www.slipstick.com

The Paradox of Podcasting

The Paradox of Podcasting
By Robert MacMillan washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Thursday, August 11, 2005; 9:48 AM

Podcasting has done what no new technology that I'm aware of has ever accomplished: It's gone mainstream and underground at the same time. Full article here.

I don't know any other word to use besides "mainstream" when I hear from the White House that President Bush's radio addresses will be offered via podcast. And I have no other word at my fingertips than "underground" when I read a recent Los Angeles Times opinion piece that suggests that podcasting is the biggest tech craze that most of us have never heard of.

Cool New Device for Storing and Transferring Data, Pictures

Cool new product for storing and transferring data... no cables et al.


From the Desk of David Pogue: A Brilliant New Memory Card (nytimes.com) =========================================================

When you're a technology reviewer, you see it all. Sometimes, it's a great idea that's doomed by a terrible execution. Sometimes, a product flops because it's a dumb idea that's done up in royal style. So when you come across something that's both a brilliant idea and flawlessly executed, it's a red-letter day. And that, I'm happy to say, is the category for SanDisk's new Ultra II SD Plus memory card.

Now, let's review what we know about transferring photos from your camera to your computer. You have two options. First, you can connect the camera to a U.S.B. cable, which you then plug into your computer. Fine, except that you have to remember to carry around the U.S.B. cable, and you're eating up your camera's battery power during the transfer process. (And whatever you do, don't go off on a trip with the WRONG cable, one with some kind of goofy proprietary end connector.)Second, you can buy a card reader. You don't use up your camera's battery that way, but now you have yet another piece of gear to carry around.

But SanDisk has now come up with a third option: stick the memory card directly into any computer. Read full nytimes review here.

Opinion: Great SMB network printer from HP

Nice Network Printer for Small and Medium Offices

HP has been the standard for office network printers for a number of years.

The HP LaserJet 2420DN is a great fit for speed, small foot print, ease of setup. The 2420DN is network ready and prints up to 30ppm.

I couldn't recommend it any higher.

NOTE: If there is no need for the built-in network capabilities the price drops significantly and the model changes to HP LaserJet 2420.

SANS Top 20 Q2 Security Vulnerabilities

The SANS Institute has published this quarters top 20 security vulnerabilities... you'll notice that most are NOT Microsoft although the are listed first due to market share. iTunes, Apple, Mozilla, Real are others to note.

This is a reminder that not just the OS needs to be patched but any vulnerable software.

Here's the entire article.

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Cook Group Technology, LLC