New iPhone Launch on October 4th

Sep 282011
 

‘Let’s Talk iPhone’ Invite Indicates New iPhone Launch on October 4th

Well, it’s as official as it gets with Apple. An invitation sent out yesterday to news and media outlets to attend at the Cuppertino firm’s headquarters for a ‘Let’s talk iPhone’ event is as clear an indication as Apple will ever give that it is about to launch it’s long awaited (in technology terms, it’s only been a few months really) follow up to the ubiquitous iPhone 4.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) Apple is remarkably good at hiding the details of the projects on which it is working and muddying the water to ensure that the ‘rumour mill’ indicates that it is doing many things that it is not doing at all.

We can’t even be completely certain that it will release a new iPhone on Tuesday next, although it is incredibly likely as it is not like the Californian IT giant to miss a pre-Christmas opportunity to ship gazillions of its newest products before the festive onslaught.

Apart from the widely rumoured changes to the design of the new iPhone, one of the most strongly backed rumours is that the new phone will come with a considerably upgraded Voice Control system and a new 8Mp camera.

We wait with bated breath as they say.

The Power of Google

Sep 212011
 

The Power of Google

The Power of Google is to be questioned in the US Senate (yes, we know, we’ve recognised the irony), but it does bring into the limelight one huge question on the internet at the moment – is Google simply too powerful? You should ask anyone who’s run afoul of Google’s rules and regulations regarding, well anything really, it’s like having a discussion with a stone wall. So it would be interesting to find out from Google – who died and made you President?

I could write a whole piece on this, but there’s no point, because it’s all been done before, so no point in re-inventing the wheel.

One of the better pieces on this issue is by David Gewirtz of the ZDNet Government blog.

Basically it touches on the question of whether it is right that one company has almost complete control over what it is we see when we do an internet search for anything (I don’t want any emails from people in Bing or Yahoo – there is no other search engine in reality – ask anyone who runs a blog – oh yeah, I do, there’s no other search engine in reality – when you start sending me some traffic I’ll change my mind).

It is a very interesting piece and well worth a read – you’ll find it here – http://zd.net/rrsQ1P 

 

The Advantages of a Blog to an Organisation, Club or Town

Sep 052011
 

Create a blog for your websiteThe Advantages of a Blog

In the process of designing websites for people we are often asked what is the advantage of a Blog (short for Weblog).

There are a number of advantages of this form of presenting information on the internet but the main one is accessibility to search engines. It is possible to set a blog up in such a way that every time you put a post on one the system software automatically tells search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing that a new post has been put on the site. The results are immediate.

A typical website will be ‘crawled’ by ‘spiders’ (issued by search engines) anything from once a day to once a year depending on the history of the site, how often the spiders see new content, the amount of genuine unique content on the site, etc. A blog, however, can be set to ‘ping’ the search engines, letting them know when new content has been posted on the web. Consequently a new post can be found in a search within a minute of the post being made. This is exceptional for those in a position to blog on items of current interest to those who may be interested in visiting their site.

If you want to see examples of this in action do a Google search for ‘Gillian Quinn Ballyporeen‘ and you’ll see our client, the Clogheen Community Website, comes up very high in the search results (top at time of writing this blog, but this position can change over time). Essentially Mrs. Quinn (Niall’s wife) was coaching the neighbouring Ballyporeen football team in the 2011 Celebrity Bainisteoir competition. A few well timed and positioned blogs resulted in streams of traffic (literally thousands of individual visitors, verified by Google Analytics – all free traffic) to the site in the summer and autumn of 2011, when the competition was being run.  In one particular day, when the RTE autumn schedule was announced, Gillian Quinn became an exceptionally searched for term and the search results on the site spiked enormously.

As a means of highlighting the existence of the Clogheen Website it was a wonderfully successful, not to mention cost effective, means of directing traffic to the site. There is an inevitable high bounce-rate with such traffic, but from each such campaign the site can unearth and maintain (through sign ups to Twitter, Facebook and Email updates) a sizeable chunk of readers who would be interested in finding out about content available on the site. Another such campaign in and around the All Ireland Final (just do a search for anything to do with the All Ireland Hurling Final 2011 and you’ll find the Clogheen site fairly high up on the listings, which is incredible when you consider that every news organisation in the country has content on this highly popular event).

Here on our own site we managed something similar when blogging about an interview done on the Matt Cooper Show about Spyware and Anti-Virus products (just search on Google for Matt Cooper Spyware or Matt Cooper Anti virus and you’ll see the results.)

A blog, when properly designed (very important as a blog in its own right won’t do very much unless it is set up to tell search engines when it has new posts) and updated regularly and cleverly with content in a timely fashion and with strong topics, search words and Search Engine Optimisation (which is standard for all blogs set up by DZyne.net) can bring a steady stream of traffic to your site cost effectively and quickly.

If you already have a website and would simply like to add a blog to its functionality as it currently stands then this is also something which can be accommodated quite easily.

Why not give us a call on 086 83 89 877 to discuss your options for setting up a blog to enhance the visibility of your town, school, club or company.

South Tipperary Free School Computer Report Offer

Aug 292011
 

Back to School PC maintenance offerSouth Tipperary School Computer Service Offer

It’s here again, the summer is over, Rose of Tralee has been chosen, All Ireland Football and Hurling finalists (including Tipperary – we are all very much looking forward to next Sunday) are now known and all the kids are heading back to their schools for the new school year.

DZyne.net has an offer for all schools based in the South Tipperary area that we think will help get the new school year off to a flying start.

We will do a full report on all your school PC’s FREE OF CHARGE.

The report will cover a range of important items such as:

  • Anti-Virus status
  • Anti-Spyware and Malware status
  • Internet Connectivity
  • Email Accounts
  • Privacy & Firewall settings
  • Full check for unlicenced sofware & suggestions to bring your systems back to a fully legal situation.
  • Advice on Parental Guidance software for PC’s not connected directly to School Internet infrastructure
  • Connection to White Boards

We will then provide to you a list of suggestions and a costing based on the results of your IT audit.

You will be under no obligation to use DZyne.net’s sercies. On receipt of the report you can then choose whether you would like us to take care of any issues discovered or, if you wish, you can take the information to another company and ask them to carry out the work. Either way you will know exactly what the status of your IT equipment is early in the school year so you can make plans for the rest of the year.

If you would like to speak to us about doing an IT report for your school just give Diarmaid a call on 086 83 89 877 and we will arrange same for you.

Why are Computer Viruses Written?

Aug 172011
 

Why are Computer Viruses Written?

I don’t know about you, but this is one of the questions I get asked most often, so I said I’d put a post on it here and anyone that asks me can be guided to this post.

In fact, I’m not even going to write the answer, I’ll leave it to someone far more qualified to do it that I am. This is an interview with Mikko Hypponen, a legendary computer security heavyweight and the lead security researcher for F-Secure in Finland.  He has been hunting viruses for 25 years — since Brain.a, the first PC virus written to exploit a security loophole in DOS.

This piece takes you all the way from the first virus written by hobbyists who just wanted to show that DOS was a far less secure operating system than Linux (there’s an understatement) to the cyber-criminals who organise the virus writing community today.

One of the most interesting statements in the piece is: There’s also another reason that malware writers have surged: Microsoft Windows XP. That ancient system is, unbelievably, still the most widely used operating system on the planet. It’s installed on more than 50 percent of all machines connected to the Internet, and it’s very insecure. ”XP is the weakest of all systems,” says Hypponen, “and it is installed on the most computers. Of course you will target that.”

Very interesting if you’re into that sort of thing.

Here’s the article.

If you suspect you are having virus issues in North Cork, West Waterford, East Limerick or South Tipperary then give us a call and we’ll get it sorted for you.

Is Android OS the New Windows for Virus Writers?

Aug 172011
 

Android OS LogoIs Android OS the New Windows for Virus Writers?

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news if you felt that your mobile phone was, to some degree, a haven of exclusivity from those unwanted nasties that keep clogging up your Windows Operating System (doesn’t matter which one, they are all extremely prone to viruses, if it weren’t so serious it would make for a great joke, but Microsoft has simply never been able to come to terms with how ridiculously insecure it’s operating systems, dating right back to DOS, have been – post for another day methinks).

There are indications that Android, Google’s mobile phone operating system, could become the Windows of the phone OS’s. It is certainly being targetted for some unwanted attention – see here. Having said that, calling Android a haven for viruses would be misleading, it isn’t. It is based on the Linux operating system which doesn’t really facilitate the replicative nature of viruses, which normally exploit the executable format of Windows working files (.exe). What is being found on Android phones is predominantly what is known as ‘malware’ or ‘spyware’. The key is in the name, it is software intended to do harm to or spy on the owner of the device. Essentially, these pests don’t have a replicative nature and can reside on your device without your knowledge. They are designed to send information about you and your device to the creator of the software bug. Essentially they target things like your address book and transactions such as banking and online purchasing, in order to send valuable information back to the software’s creator, which can then in turn be used for malicious purposes or sold on to others who will use it thus.

Truth be told, malware for Android phones (and others such as Symbian, Windows and even iOS) has been around almost as long as smartphones themselves, they are just starting to become very popular so bugs that affect them are going to get a lot more coverage from now on. Google is being targetted because it is (like Windows) a very open platform (so it is easier to infect that iOS for instance) and because of the exponential growth in devices running Android – this obviously gives those writing the software the most exposure.

If you are based in the mid-Munster region of Ireland and do need a security package installed on your mobile phone then do give us a call and we’ll arrange same for you.

Free Spyware & Virus Protection – The Last Word – Matt Cooper – Today FM

Jul 262011
 
Avast Logo

Avast Free Anti Virus Solution

Free Spyware & Virus Protection – The Last Word – Matt Cooper – Today FM

We’re delighted that Matt Cooper’s The Last Word programme on Today FM picked up on Diarmaid Condon’s article in The Irish Examiner on whether it is actually necessary to pay for Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware packages if you are a normal personal computer user. This programme aired on July 26th, 2011.

Here is the interview in full - 

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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If you can’t or haven’t time to play the piece (it’s just over 11 1/2 minutes long) below is a very short summation of some of the issues broached. The beginning of the interview with Adrian Weckler of the Sunday Business Post deals with Facebook scams, which is something we’ll deal with on the blog at a later stage, so it’s not included below.

Anti-Virus – Free or Not. 

The big question is ‘will free Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware software protect your PC as well as the paid for version?’ In short, probably not, but the next question that has to be asked is ‘do you actually need the level of protection provided by a paid for solution? Again, probably not.

There is no doubt that well known, branded, paid-for, anti-virus solutions such as Norton, McAfee, Bullguard, etc. are better than their freeware equivalents, the thing is most personal PC users don’t actually need the level of protection that paid-for software provides.

Most people store very little of value on their computers these days outside of some documents and photographs. If these are backed up the operating system of the PC is the main concern, and this can be reinstalled if things come to the worst. So, despite anti-virus companies insisting that the world will end if you don’t protect your computer with the most up-to-date and expensive software – well it won’t really.

The big differences between free and paid for anti-viruses are ‘support and updates’. There is essentially no support with free packages and they don’t update as often as their paid for counterparts.

If you’re prepared to go for a free version, then avoiding simple things like downloading questionable applications from Facebook (do a search for the application on Google if you’re in doubt, if it is a virus carrying application it will probably be listed as such) and from dubious freeware and Torrent download sites will make your PC a lot safer. Most anti-virus packages, even free ones, have a toolbar or system to tell you how ‘reliable’ sites and the content on them may be – this should be heeded at all times if you are not very comfortable on a computer.

Norton is probably the most famous, and also the most thorough, anti-virus product on the market. The big problem with this is that it scans everything you do, constantly. This is fantastic protection, but it requires a very new and fast computer to handle the power necessary to run it. You are also giving up anything up to quarter of your PC’s processing power just to have Norton protect your PC. It is a heavy price to pay, particularly on cheaper machines with slower processors and measly amounts of memory. It makes older machines, in particular, notoriously slow.

According to a recent PC World survey (http://tiny.cc/emjpr) Avast (www.avast.com) is considered the best free anti-virus available, followed by AntiVir from Avira (www.avira.com) – and having used both I would have to agree with this rating. AntiVir is probably a better anti-virus but it’s a bit fiddly to set up and has really annoying and large pop-ups urging you to purchase the paid-for version. Avast is easier to use and far less annoying. The others making up the top five are Microsoft Security Essentials, Panda Cloud and Commodo.

Most free anti-virus solutions do not deal very well with malware/spyware, whereas paid for software tends to deal with this threat somewhat better. Having said this they do not deal with it as well as software specifically designed to prevent or eradicate malware. There are good free versions of this as well such as Malwarebytes (www.malwarebytes.org), Spybot Search & Destroy (www.safer-networking.org) and Spyware Blaster (www.javacoolsoftware.com). The basic difference between viruses and malware or spyware is that viruses replicate to clog up your machine, malware doesn’t replicate and is generally created to send information from your computer back to the malware designer.

It is important to note that having an anti-virus product installed DOES NOT GUARANTEE that you will not get viruses, but it does give you a far better chance of saving your vital documents and files if you do get an infection. Most anti-virus products require you to set them up to do regular scans. If you don’t do this then you’re computer may as well not be protected at all.

If you feel that the contents of your PC are of great value and are thus intent on paying for and Anti-Virus solution (which isn’t a crime, incidentally), then you might take a look at this comparison of a number of well known brands on PC Mag’s website - http://tiny.cc/wuou5.

The program also dealt briefly with Cold Calling Technical Support Scams – you can find a previous article on this particularly virulent scam here.

How Safe is Your Data – Part 5 – Protect Yourself

Jul 262011
 

Protect your Personal DataHow Safe is Your Data – Part 5 – Protect Yourself

The one area we all fall down when securing our data is passwords. We don’t use ones that are sufficiently difficult to guess and use the same password across a number of platforms. Here are some guidelines to help increase your level of security by beefing up your password strength.

Avoid using easy to guess passwords such as birthdays, family members names, favourite sports teams or consecutive keyboard combinations like qwerty or asdfg. Don’t use dictionary words, slang terms, common misspellings or words spelled backward.

Make it difficult for them, don’t use simple combinations and mix letters, cases and numbers where possible. Millions of passwords were exposed in a security breach in 2010 revealing the most popular choices as ‘123456’, ‘12345’, ‘111111’, qwerty and ‘abc123’. Others to avoid are any consecutive number sequences or words like ‘password’, ‘admin’ and ‘letmein’.

When you click the ‘Forgot Password’ link on a website, you’re asked to answer a question or series of questions, pick questions with answers that are difficult for others to guess. The answers typically given are obvious to people you know or can be found on social media profiles you’ve got. This practice resulted in Sarah Palin’s Yahoo account being accessed.

Despite the temptation to do so, don’t reuse your password as it makes it a lot easier to gain access to your information. It is estimated that around 1/3 of people reuse a single password on all their accounts.

Beware of text or email requests to ‘Reset Your Password’. These are typically scams aimed at actually getting your password to access your information. If you need to access an account don’t do so by replying to the text or email or using links in them. Use the access route you would normally use for the account and check the information you have been provided with separately.

Beware of cold callers claiming to be from well known security and IT companies telling you that they can see ‘virus activity on your computer from their servers’. Do not allow them to access your computer. This is a well known, and very rampant, scam used to defraud you and access the data on your computer.

If you would like more information on protecting the data on your PC give us a shout on 086 83 89 877 or via email and we’ll guide you through your options.

How Safe is Your Data – Part 4 – Social Networks

Jul 262011
 

Facebook can be a security threat to your information. How Safe is Your Data – Part 4 – Social NetworksTwitter Logo

The era of mushrooming social networking software has meant that people’s information is freely available online, often with the minimum of effort. Facebook and Twitter are the two best known social media platforms, although far from the only ones, but because of their popularity they’re the ones we’ll deal with here.

Facebook’s security can be particularly ropey if you don’t delve into its settings to prevent access by those you don’t know. Unauthorised access to a Facebook account to use it and change its account settings is so common that it’s actually got a name – it is termed ‘Fraping’ short for Facebook raping. Quite apart from that you’d be amazed how many people allow all and sundry access to their profiles, normally without knowing they are doing so. There have been many documented issues of an employer or other unexpected source accessing information on a Facebook profile and gathering information that the owner would have preferred they didn’t. If you haven’t investigated the security settings of your Facebook account already, now would be a good time to do so. Use the Accounts link on the top right of the page and then click on Privacy Settings.

The hacking of the Fox News Twitter account on more than one occasion, to announce the ‘assassination of President Obama’ has highlighted how brittle the platform is when it comes to unauthorised access. The basic problem with Twitter is that the username is already known to everyone, it’s the bit that follows the @ in your account name (@FoxNewsPolitics in this case). So there is only the password to guess and, if that password isn’t particularly strong, it can spell trouble. It also doesn’t help if a single Twitter account is accessed by a number of people, as is the case in many organisations. It only takes one slip such as an email of the password, a disgruntled ex-colleague or a malicious insider and your Twitter account is broadcasting to the world anything but what you want it to.

People also often reveal far too much personal information on social networking sites, which can be easily accessed at a later stage. Remember, you are essentially publishing to the world when using platforms like Facebook, and particularly Twitter, so use them accordingly. The internet also has a hugely voluminous memory and even deleting information doesn’t always get rid of it. Sites like the Wayback Machine make it easy to browse through deleted sites, pages, blogs, forums and information.

If you would like more information on protecting the data on your PC give us a shout on 086 83 89 877 or via email and we’ll guide you through your options.

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