The Virus Alert Blog » Tech Happenings

More To Worry About Than Just A Virus – What About The Weather?

Mark — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:17:41 +0000

There is more to worry about concerning the health of your computer or network than just protecting it from computer viruses. The weather can also impact your system’s health. The weather? Yes, check out this story about how a violent storm played havoc on computer users and their system. Bad weather isn’t good for anyone… well, maybe for computer repair businesses it is.

Could The Presidential Election Be Affected By Hackers?

Mark — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:36:30 +0000

Check out this article about the effects that hackers could have on the Presidential election? Its kind of a scary proposition, but entirely realistic too, if hackers can access ATMs, banking systems, and other high security computer networks then it is reasonable to think they could gain access to the election systems. The effects of this would be catastrophic… a re-vote? someone behind the tampering? It would be the biggest political news ever.

Age: 11 – Job Title: Network Administrator

Mark — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:38:55 +0000

Check out this story about 11-year old Joe Penn, who took over the network administrator position at small private school: Victory Baptist School. Evidently the previous network admin left his job and with no one to turn to, young Mr. Penn took over. Here’s to Joe Penn, he will most assuredly accomplish great things in his future.

April 1st – In Computer Virus History

Mark — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:35:59 +0000

April Fool’s Day is a big day in computer virus and computer prank history. Many attacks, both harmless and harmful, are set to take place each year on April 1st, or April Fool’s Day. For a great “This Day In History” fact, on April 1st, 1999 David Smith who wrote the “Melissa” virus was sentenced to prison. He ended up serving about 20 months thanks to his cooperation in helping find other virus writers. So, look out tomorrow… who knows what will happen.

Digital Photo Frame Virus Update

Mark — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:08:33 +0000

As was reported here and elsewhere weeks ago, recently many digital photo frames (and other gadgets that are computer interactive) were found to have computer viruses pre-loaded onto them somewhere in the manufacturing process. Many frames and other gadgets were eventually recalled while others stayed in use by unsuspecting customers and gift recipients. There are now even wider reports of other devices like MP3 players and GPS units being infected. The only thing to protect you in this case is your anti-virus software installed on your computer, make sure it is up-to-date.

Exciting News Regarding USB Temperature Sensor

Mark — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:49:42 +0000

Very interesting news here for anyone involved with the IT industry. Temperature@lert, a company on the forefront of technology, has had their USB temperature sensor approved and accepted as a SPEC Power compliant device. The most exciting part is that Temperature@lert is the only company currently making an approved USB temperature sensor with 64-bit drivers. They seem to be a company that is forging their own path in the technology arena… not following the paths forged by others.

Full Press Release:

SPECpower_ssj2008 is the latest installment of an IT industry benchmark evaluates the power and performance characteristics in larger volume server class computers. It was created out of a need to monitor and regroup energy use from the IT industry and computer manufactures around the world.

SPECpower_ssj2008 does not only measure AC power from the source but it delivers a calibrated matrix for all computer functions including ambient temperature. There are two temperature measuring tools that are compatible with SPECpower_ssj2008 and the only one with support for 64-bit drivers is Temperarture@lert.

With the combination of the SPECpower_ssj2008 and Temperature@lert system administrators can run both temperature and power controls. The SPECpower_ssj2008 measures power for the AC input and combines the implementation to a performance metric. This provides pertinent information about what power considerations are made when considering which data center. Coupled with Temperature@lert, the power and temperature gradient works in symbiotic form to provide the best accuracy available in the IT industry.

We’d like to extend a special thanks to Greg D. and his team at Dell Inc. whose deep knowledge and expertise made this possible.

For more information about SPECpower_ssj2008 visit: http://www.spec.org/power_ssj2008/

Computer Virus: The Movie – Coming Soon

Mark — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:28:59 +0000

Movies come out all the time with different subject matter, but now comes a movie about a computer virus. The famous “I Love You” computer virus of the year 2000 affected (or should I say infected) millions of people and businesses around the world. Now a cast including Dean Cain (Superman from TV’s “Lois & Clark The New Adventures of Superman”) will tell the story of the “I Love You” virus and how it came to be. A look at a real life computer virus and how it affected the world is a new take on the tech world from Hollywood. Usual tech related movies are about completely fictional events, rarely are they historical in nature at all. Let’s hope the film is good… great… uh, Super!

Be Careful Who You Trust With Your Anti-Virus Solutions

Mark — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:52:44 +0000

Be Careful Who You Trust With Your Anti-Virus Solutions

The former CEO of a Korean based computer software company was recently indicted on charges he sold a fake anti-virus detection program to 1.26 million computer users. Remember, getting your anti-virus software from a reputable company is about as important as every other step you take in the computer virus removal phase of your company’s operation. If your virus protection software is no good, you may as well have not bought anything at all.

There are plenty of sources out there for good and serviceable computer virus protection programs. Some cost plenty of money, some are reasonably priced, and yes some are even free-of-charges. Investigate which one is right for you. Consult people in-the-know in tech forums, read reviews at any number of online software review sites, and above all make personal face-to-face contact with people in your area and find out what it is that they use.

Be smart, don’t fall victim to a questionable company like this.

The Trouble With Facebook

Mark — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:54:58 +0000

Whether it’s MySpace, Facebook, or any other social networking type website or service, be careful what information you post relating to yourself. Here is an article detailing “the darker side of Facebook”. These type of sites can be very worthwhile when used properly… just don’t expect everyone to use them properly.

McAfee Gives Back To Investors

Mark — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:42:07 +0000

Computer virus protection companies are supposed to give people a good safe feeling… but McAfee did even more for their stock holders when the recently resumed their stock buy back program which had a more than reasonably beneficial effect on their stock price.