Panatech PX-500 PCMCIA Sprint EVDO BroadBand Card

The Pantech PX-500 wireless mobile broadband card for Sprint gives you data communication access for your PC laptop anywhere you roam on the Sprint network at faster speeds than ever before. EV-DO rev A compatibility gives you download speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps and beefy upload speeds of up to 1.8 Mbps. Simple to use, the Pantech PX-500 wireless mobile broadband card lets you surf the Internet, send and receive email and text messages, and connect to corporate networks from just about anywhere.

Technical Specs:

• Dimensions – 4.57 in x 2.13 in x 0.51 in
• Weight – 1.8 oz
• Data Download Speed – EV-DO rev A (Up to 3.1 Mbps Down/1.8 Mbps Up), EV-DO rev 0 (2.4 Mbps Down/153 Kbps Up), 1xRTT
• Download Protocol – CDMA 850, 1900
• Compatible Carrier – Sprint PCS
• Network Compatibility – CDMA 850, 1900
• 3G Data Speeds – Yes

Compatibility Features

• Device Supports Data Plans – Yes
• Available For Purchase Without Service Plan – Yes

Warning Signs of Hard Drive Trouble

For every computer there comes a time when you have a problem with hardware or software. This is for those who want to learn the signs of possible fixes for having hard drive problems. Although if you know you’re hard drive is dieing then you better back it up as quickly as possible. You will of course need to get the back up software to protect your data.  If you have special drivers you will need to backup yours drivers.  If you have an OEM system then you will need to backup the Hidden Partition.

So what are the warning signs of a hard drive failure:

• Unexpected freezing of Windows — When Windows Locks up and you have to reboot or getting a Blue Screen of Death.   You have no choice but to restart because you can’t do anything with windows.
• Losing data files — if you seem to see files being lost or deleted without your direct input.  It might be a sign of a computer virus or it could be a damaged hard drive.

Disaster preparation 101 — Data backup

In this one I will talk about Disaster, it happens to all of us from time to time. A fire, a earthquake, a stolen laptop or any number of ways. So what happens to your data, is it stored on the laptop? Is it important very sensitive data? Could you get fired if you lost that data?

These are all questions you must ask yourself when you have laptop. How do you backup your data or even do you have a backup? Having seen this with my own clients, I must wonder if there are people out there who just don’t care. I had a client the other day who gotten a virus and this was a really mean virus. Deleted some very important files when you tried to clean the virus out. She called me in a panic because she couldn’t load up windows? I asked if she had any backups, she said “what’s a backup” . So I sat there discussing this with the client for over 20 minutes. Finally she started to understand, she said she had the OEM Backup DVD but nothing else. She also said she needed help with getting data off the computer. I told her that I would be able to come the next day and I was lucky the virus didn’t do anything else to her data. We were able to retrieve the data from her system. That is where I start my rant , Why would anyone not have backup of there most important data?

Removing Win32/Bagle.HE worm

Here is another virus that seems to be spreading lately.   From the looks of it, it sees to be another email worm.  Here is what eset says:

Aliases

Email-Worm.Win32.Bagle.gt (Kaspersky), W32/Bagle.gen (McAfee), Trojan.Tooso!gen (Symantec)

Win32/Bagle.HE is a worm that spreads via e-mail. The size of its executable is 40565 B .

When executed the worm copies itself in the following locations:

• Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\hidn\
  hldrrr.exe
• Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\hidn\
  hidn2.exe

In order to be executed on every system start, the worm sets the following Registry entry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\drv_st_key

It seems to have a manual removal process, Unless you pay for the other software but according to the 411 on PC Security:

Win32/Bagle.HE worm is a “threat” that appears in security scans by fake antispyware WinDefender 2008.

The danger of Win32/Bagle.HE worm is supposed to scare you into wasting $49.95 on WinDefender 2008.

Unless you like getting ripped off, don’t download the software the Win32/Bagle.HE worm popup links to. You’re not really infected with Win32/Bagle.HE worm — you’re infected with scamware that you need to remove.

I’ll show you how to get rid of Win32/Bagle.HE worm and WinDefender 2008, for free.

Facebook : Beware Spam for breakfast. (Virus)

In today’s society, we’ve been to complacent with people with people clicking links for the social group. In one such article on Channel Web, a nice little blog, says this:

The worm was discovered by IT security provider Kaspersky Lab, which said the threat, Net-Worm.Win32.Koobface.b, is targeting Facebook users by creating spam messages and sending them to the infected user’s friends via the site.

“Unfortunately, users are very trusting of messages left by ‘friends’ on social networking sites,” said Alexander Gostev, senior virus analyst at Kaspersky Lab, in a statement. “So, the likelihood of a user clicking on a link like this is very high.”

[Via Channel Web]

This seems to be a problem people thinking that a link someone sends them is a real good link but actually is a link to a video site. According to this article the links people are sending are actually a fake video link, telling you have to download some update to flash player, by downloading this program. The user gets involved with the virus and the fun begins. So how can you prevent this from happening, two ways one is a very good group of software to make sure you have the latest and greatest video codecs. That too can be something they’ll say you need and if you’ve already installed this list of codecs then you know they’ll not telling the truth and you can quickly get away from the site laughing.

Trojan.PWS.ChromeInject.A is not a Firefox plugin.

A new type of malware designed to harvest web passwords has been detected in-the-wild by BitDefender’s antivirus research labs. This latest e-threat – called Trojan.PWS.ChromeInject.A – is intended to be delivered onto a compromised computer system by other malware for subsequent download into Mozilla Firefox’s Plugin folder. Once installed it gets to work every time Firefox is started.

[Via Bitdefender]

So having seen this I thought I’d come up with ways around this to better protect yourself.  One way to prevent this from getting your sensitive data is to get a program like Sandboxie.   You could stop using Firefox that would be silly, because right now Firefox is more secure than Chrome and Internet Explorer.   I’d also suggest checking out my Anti-spyware page and Anti-Virus page and get some more protection.

The key to this virus protection is just be cautious of where you go and keep all you system update to date to prevent all this from happening.  It is also advisable to not have your passwords saved on Firefox, you should use something like Roboform, it is free  to download and try.  It will encrypt your passwords so if they don’t know the master password then they are out of luck.  Roboform is also good for coming up with some strong passwords.  Just some suggestions to prevent from people seeing your sensitive data, you don’t want anyone to get that data.

Microsoft kills a fake antivirus tool from 994,061 computers!

According to Arstechnica and I’ll quote:

Win32/FakeSecSen has gone by various names, including Micro Antivirus 2009, MS Antivirus, Spyware Preventer, Vista Antivirus 2008, Advanced Antivirus, System Antivirus 2008, Ultimate Antivirus 2008, Windows Antivirus, XPert Antivirus, Power Antivirus, and Ultra Antivirus 2009. Furthermore, it is skinnable, so each of these variants has a different GUI, although the basic functionality is the same: bother users with warnings of malware until they pay up.

The Microsoft Malware Protection Center recently released some data on how the removal tool performed this month: FakeSecSen was removed from 994,061 machines. That number isn’t the highest Microsoft has recorded before, and the number of removals depends on which malware Microsoft adds each month and how widespread it is.

[via Arstechnica]

This seemed to of happened this month with the usual Windows update.  If you haven’t updated your system just yet you should.   This troublesome fake virus seems to have been killed  from several systems.  This could effectively make it harder for these guys who ever designed this program to make money.  I hope microsoft does even more virus removals in next month.  If you still want to try to get rid of these viruses don’t forget to check out my tips on Virus removal.

You have an undelivered UPS/FEDEX Package. (Virus)

From what I’ve seen so far. There seems to be a new rash of email going around with the heading that makes it look and feel like either UPS or Fedex. Saying that you have an undelivered package from them and to either print the order confirmation or to click a link. I will say this once, if you get this delete it. Fedex and UPS will never hide the link and tell you have an package waiting in the email. They will leave a note your door. You must ask yourself how Fedex/UPS found out your email address to tell you have a package waiting? They don’t and they won’t, just a fact.

UPS/FedEx Delivery Failure : Snopes

TROJ_DLOADR.GG and TSPY_ZBOT.NM Trojan, which will Monitor and try to steal your data. The other one is a ZBot and will try to steal you data also. If you need help removing this virus, I’d suggest checking out my other virus article Avg detected Trojan Horse Generic 12.htc?. There are a lot of ways to remove this virus but the first step is never click on any links in your emails. I also wrote about Some Important programs to prevent yourself from having viruses and Malware!! This will help prevent and fix the common virus problems you might have.

Reports are coming in that WPA is no longer secure!

AT&T smacks the gauntlet at you!

According to Cnet News:
The test, which began being applied in the Reno, Nev., area on Saturday, limits customers of AT&T’s slowest DSL service to 20 gigabytes of monthly data transfers, while users of the fastest service will be limited to 150 gigabytes. Customers will have access to an online tool to track their usage and will receive notification when they reach 80 percent. Those who exceed their limits will be charged $1 per gigabyte.

[Via Cnet News]

So you just received the information that AT&T is doing this. How do you want to keep track of your online usage. I’ve got some good tools to help you. Although they will only help to a certain point you must remember a few tips and these tips are:

• Limiting use of your Bandwidth!!
• Understanding your Wireless Router
• 10 Ways to keep your wireless router secure!

With these steps you would greatly increase stoping unnecessary use of your bandwidth.  Most people don’t understand that any program you use on your network will be counted on the total bill.  If you know of any good ways to help stop bandwidth by all means tell people and if you find any good programs that might help, please leave a comment.

Sony recalls 340,000 batteries.

Sony Recalls Notebook Computer Batteries Due to Previous Fires

The following product safety recall was voluntarily conducted by the firm in cooperation with the CPSC. Consumers should stop using the product immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Rechargeable, lithium ion batteries containing Sony cells used in Fujitsu Computer Systems Corporation, Gateway Inc., Sony Electronics Inc., and Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. notebook computers.

Units: About 340,000 batteries (an additional 3,080,000 battery packs were sold worldwide)

Battery Cell Manufacturer: Sony Energy Devices Corp., of Japan

Hazard: These lithium ion batteries can overheat, posing a fire hazard to consumers.

Incidents/Injuries: There have been 16 reports of notebook computer batteries overheating, causing minor property damage and two minor burns. All of these reported incidents and injuries have been associated with earlier recalls of notebook computer batteries containing these Sony cells. There have been no incidents involving batteries sold by the notebook manufacturers participating in this announcement.

[via U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission]

Backup your Mozzila Thunderbird profiles

So you have all this mail you want to back up in case something terrible happens to your hard drive.  So here is ways to backup your email and other programs in Vista.  I think Vista has a new way of keeping program profiles in an hierarchical setup.  So what is the HIDDEN directory it is:

C:\Users\[USER]\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles

Now as you can see your Thunderbird profile is in a hidden directory in the AppData Directory.  You can easily get to the hidden directory by typing %appdata% {enter} in the search bar of Vista.  Now How do you backup and restore.   The program I use to backup is GoodSync.  I send the data to the cloud and when I need it I can restore it back to the directory. Now what about restoring, if you have to do a complete re-install of Thunderbird you can always copy over the back up to the Thunderbird Profiles directory and install Mozilla Thunder bird and it should see it.   If by chance you load up Thunderbird and you have to re add everything you would have to delete everything in that directory and then restore from the back up.

Getting Spaz to work with the Twit Army:

I having successfully installed Spaz and use it with the Twit Army. I’d figure I would talk about how to get Spaz to work like Twirl. It’s a very simple way but some people seem to having trouble. This will only work with Vista or XP and I am not sure about Linux or Mac. I’ve been successful doing this with a Vista Premium Machine. It seems to be really easy to use and not take up to much of your desk space.

• Download and Install Adobe Air — (You will need this to installed first.)

• Download and Install Spaz — (This is the main program)

• Once install you will need to go to:

1. Go to the [ Preferences ]





2. Go to [ Other Services ]

3. Put this in exactly as shown (see example)

   
   

   

4. Go to [ Networking ] (optional)
5. Put this in exactly as sown (see example)

   
   >

   

Doing this should get you connected to the Twit Army. I am not sure why it says “ERROR : Server returned invalid data” When you first start the program but if you wait a couple seconds you will see that it will eventually loads up. If you have any suggestions or comments please feel free to leave a comment.

Bandwidth Tools For Monitoring your bandwidth

<<See Previous Post

So I’ve done some looking around for bandwidth programs.  So here’s what I found so far.  The programs I’ve got listed are not test and are therefore your responsible for any and all use of the programs.

• FreeMeter Bandwidth Monitor For Windows – Monitor network bandwidth (C#.NET 2k/XP+). Desktop and Systray graph. Configurable connection speed, update interval, color, transparency. Monitor any or all network interfaces. Ping/Trace/UPnP utilities. Email notifier (POP/IMAP). Requires .NET 2.0.

• Pipelog – Windows Bandwidth Meter — Pipelog is a Windows bandwidth meter that gives live statistics of accumulated bandwidth usage. It is written in C# and runs on the .NET Framework.

• Windows Service Monitor – Monitor and automatically restart Windows Services with this small Win32 command line utility. Windows Service Monitor (WinSMon) can monitor several services, restart services that stop/fail and limit the number of restart times.

• iptotal — iptotal is an IP traffic monitor. It listens to a network interface in non-promiscuous mode, and measures IP bandwidth usage. After the specified number of seconds, the average throughput is printed at total, input and output usage.

Hot, sexy bot sweet-talks personal data out of chatters

Security software company PC Tools warns that the bot can easily be used for malicious purposes. The company said that the program’s ability to mimic human behavior to dupe chatters is worrisome, and could readily be used to collect all manner of information. “As a tool that can be used by hackers to conduct identity fraud, CyberLover demonstrates an unprecedented level of social engineering,” said PC Tools senior malware analyst Sergei Shevchenko in a statement. “CyberLover has been designed as a bot [robot] that lures victims automatically, without human intervention. If it’s spawned in multiple instances on multiple servers, the number of potential victims could be very substantial.”
[Via Arstechnica]

This is really a security issue here. Never give out your personal information online. I just want to post this to remind people not everything online is safe.

Verizon Shares Your Call Data Unless You Opt-Out (Update!)

The folks from Skydeck just received a written notice from Verizon Wireless for an opt-out system for sharing your call records to third-party advertisers. Unless you call them and opt-out, Verizon will sell what numbers you called, how often you called, and your call length with “authorized companies,” which includes their “affiliates, agents, and parent companies.” Although it doesn’t include your own name, number or address, something like this should be opt-in, not opt-out. If you’re a Verizon customer, call 1-800-333-9956 and tell them you want to opt-out. Why should you let Verizon get even richer off your data for nothing in return? [Skydeck via Crunchgear]

I hope people realize just how bad this is for you!! Would you like them to know who you called? What if your number is Private, It isn’t no longer!!

Fifteen Back up programs to save your data!

There’s no way around it: Malware happens, drive failure happens, natural disaster happens. If your data isn’t backed up, it’s gone–or it will require an extremely expensive, not-certain-to-succeed recovery operation.

If all you have on your system are scribblings and unimportant downloads, you might not care. But you probably have something of value: scanned pictures of ancestors, wedding videos, a presentation you worked all week on, the song that’s going to make you famous.

It pays to back up, and it has never been easier to do so. No matter what method you’re most comfortable with, be it traditional file-based backup, image backup, or continuous data protection, one of the following fifteen tools will do the trick.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,137434/article.html

Even though they aren’t free I’ll still take a look at them to see if I can afford one or two of them.