Offline Update 5.0, Clone of Autopatcher to Some!!

Offline updater 5.0 has been released a couple months ago and I just realized it now.  This is an excellent tool for IT professionals who want to keep all your Systems up-to-date with the last patches from Microsoft.  The systems it supports are Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 x64, And Windows Vista / Server 2008.(32 bit and 64 Bit updates).

I find this a very useful program for people who have a multitude of problems, from not being able to get on the net to computer virus infections.  This is really good for big businesses that want to update a lot of systems in easy way without having to wait for downloads of updates to install.   You can take a DVD and update on the fly within Mins.   DVD being Cheap or buying them in bulk helps saves time and money for the company.   Less time spent downloading the updates and more time actually getting work done.  As with the Conflicker, Downadup, and to some the Conflickr Trojan, if you got infected with that little worm.  This would help install the updates that it prevented you from doing in the first place.  I also found that once you download do the update the files are kept on the hard drive so you no longer have to redownload them again.  You just update the updates every second Tuesday of the month and it downloads the newest patches and creates a whole new ISO for you to burn.

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?

Bank of America Slashes 35,000 Jobs in 3 Years

This one hit me hard in the chest.  I must say this was a big surprise to me and others but it looks like Bank of America is going to cut 30,000 to 35, 000 Jobs in the next 3 Years.   I’ll will quote Huffinton Post:

NEW YORK — Bank of America Corp. said Thursday it expects to cut 30,000 to 35,000 jobs over the next three years, as it faces a deteriorating economic environment and tries to absorb Merrill Lynch & Co.

[Via Huffinton Post]

Now this one will affect the Whole US and some other International in the coming years. It is based on the Economic Stresses we are getting hit with right now. I am saddened and disturbed by how many people have loss there jobs. I have lost count as to how many people have losed their jobs over this economic downward spiral as Jason Calicanis once said. I can only hope that we can get up after this and fix what went wrong in the first place. I also know that it is quite hard to get hired in this day and age. So what is to become of the hard working men and women? Will the Government have to pay for housing for even more people? These are all questions we must answer soon in order to prevent a disastrous depression.

Office Depot Closed 126 Stores

This just came from USA Today, According to them and I’ll quote:

Office Depot plans to close 112 underperforming retail stores in North America over the next three months. In addition, 14 stores will be closed in 2009 as their leases expire or other lease arrangements are completed, it said.

The retailer will also close six of its 33 distribution centers in North America, and says it plans to open about 20 stores in 2009, down from an earlier estimate of 40.

[Via USAToday]

Although this isn’t talking about layoffs but this will greatly impact people who will be jobless due to the closings.   SO I wanted to talk about how many per store,  I estimate it will be like 20 people per store on average.   So that will be around 2,500 people will be jobless in the stores and I don’t know how many people will be jobless from the distribution center.   If you want to check out my other posts just click here.  If you search my site you will find even more tips and tricks to better help you be ready for the job market.

Google let your work from home with Task Lists!!

As the day go by we have all have tasks, and that means we have to keep a way to remember them.  Google decided to add that to there Google Mail.  Pcworld said it the right way:

If keeping Gmail open all the time just wasn’t enough, Google gave us one more reason to stay glued to our computer screens. The Labs Team have released yesterday a new feature for Gmail – Tasks – basically a To-Do list manager. But besides the usual task list bonanza, the new feature can also associate emails with tasks and create multiple to-do lists.

[Via Pcworld]

So how do you get that to work.  Pcworld has a great resource for people to find out how to get it to work.   Just think it gives you one more reason to work from home.   Google actually did something quite nice when it comes to mail.   It can even convert email into tasks.  If you know of any good uses of this little feature leave a comment.

The Next big Wave of Layoffs is Sony. (9,000 workers)

In a report from Engadget, there seems to be more Layoffs going on.   One such one is Sony.  Here is what Engadget said:

The bad news from the Japanese consumer electronics industry continues. Sony just announced plans to cut about 8,000 global jobs from its beleaguered electronics business while making unspecified reductions to its seasonal and temporary workforce. The move, as Sony explains it, comes “in response to the sudden and rapid changes in the global economic environment.” Ominously, it looks like Sony will also be raising prices in the countries where “Sony makes significant sales” (read: US and Europe) if we’re reading this statement correctly:

[Via Engadget]

In Today’s economy, you need to be prepared.  So I thought I bring back some old Favorites of mine and talk about them.  To see the other layoffs that I’ve talked about CLICK HERE.   If you wanted to know what you can do to be prepared here are some great resources for people who are worried about there jobs:

• 5 ways to improve your chance of getting hired.
• Are you asking to be scammed? (Don’t get scammed while finding a job)
• Google : Job Resources
  

trojan.zlob removal tricks!!

Aliases:
Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Zlob.qyl (Kaspersky)
Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Zlob.qzs (Kaspersky)
Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Zlob.qzn (Kaspersky)
Trojan.Zlob.CPP (BitDefender)
Puper (McAfee)
SystemDefender (Symantec)

Trojan:Win32/Zlob.G is a component of Win32/Zlob that downloads rogue security programs, adware, and additional Win32/Zlob components.

[Via Windows Live OneCare]

This one just popped up today on my radar it seems to be a very low threat on everyone’s radar according to my sources say “Trojan.Zlob.G is a Trojan horse that may download and execute remote files and redirect the Internet Explorer home page and search page.”  So to remove this little Trojan you would want to download one an Anti-virus and firewall.   Once you install the software the program should fix the problem for you.   This one seems to be really easy to fix.   So Please read my post on how to better protect your self if you want to prevent this in the future.

Stop botnets in its tracks With a Firewall!

According to PC World and I’ll quote:

According to FireEye chief scientist Stuart Staniford, detection rates are so poor that, on average, only around 40 percent of security software can detect binaries during the period of greatest infectivity and danger, namely the first few days after a particular variant starts being used by botnet builders.

[via PC World]

Now let’s talk about this, having been seeing recent surges of people getting infected.  I’ve come to the conclusion that companies like AVG and other Anti-Virus companies are keeping up.   Now true if all you have is an Anti-virus and nothing else that greatly increases your likely hood of getting a virus.

In a recent virus storm, We have people finding my site because of a Good Firewall.   No if he didn’t have anything but Windows firewall then it would of gotten through and you would not of known about it.  So let’s talk about how to prevent botnet attacks.   This is relatively easy and if you follow some common rules.   You to could be less likely to be infected.  I will say this most people don’t do these common tips and they should do them.

Black Friday gets way out of hand!!! (No JOKE)

OK, Black Friday has officially gotten out of hand. A 34-year-old WalMart employee was trying to hold back the crowds at a Long Island store this morning at 5am, when they took the doors off their hinges and stormed the store. The man fell down and was trampled by over 200 people as he gasped for air. It’s sad and despicable, and it’s equally the fault of the dehumanized shoppers and the WalMart store it happened at.
[via Gizmodo]

This is a sad day when people are more interested in deals then someone getting stampeded by other people.   This happened in the Long Island Wal-mart.    I much prefer CyberMonday, where you don’t have to worry about someone getting killed.   I feel sorry for the people involved they now have to deal with there conscience.   I hope this teaches Wal-mart to do something different next year.  Next year they should have them enter one at a time in a line, every 2 seconds or so!!

Microsoft issues Vista patches out of Monthly Patch Cycle!

Microsoft issues Out of cycle patch for Vista.   These patches are as Followed:

Kb957321

An update rollup is available for the Microsoft Windows Imaging Component (WIC) in Windows Vista or in Windows Server 2008. This update rollup resolves the problems that are documented in the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

954708 An update to add support for the serialization of complex Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) data types in the Windows Imaging Component

945060 There may be inconsistencies in the Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) and Exchangeable Image File (EXIF) values for an image file in Windows Vista and in Windows XP

KB959108

The Windows Portable Device (WPD) API collects and transfers Software Quality Metrics (SQM) data to Microsoft servers. The SQM data is collected only on an opt-in basis through the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program. An update is available that disables the collection and transfer of SQL data to Microsoft servers.

This update affects Windows Vista-based computers, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1)-based computers, and Windows Server 2008-based computers that are in the Microsoft Windows Media Player Customer Experience Improvement Program.

Cricket USB UM100 Broadband Wireless Modem Review.

The UM100c is No Longer Available, Please check out the Cricket A600 Modem Review Or the UM185 Broadband modem. The UM185 modem might be a replacement to the UM100.

After a full week of playing around with this USB wireless, I wanted to talk about it. So let’s break it down into pieces.

1. (USB Broadband A600 Modem card for Free after Instant online rebates and Mail in rebate Free shipping & first month free! Shop today.)
2. Installation –  The installation of the USB was not to difficult.  I did have to do some more steps than this:  Install the Software, then hooked up the USB device to the USB port.
3. Manual Activated the Broadband –  For some reason in my area they had several people have problems with the broadband activation.  So I had to activate it manually!!

After that all went well, I was on the internet just a cruising along.  I did however wonder why I was getting such a slow response speed.  When I went traveling I thought I would share some of my local results with you to better show you my speed.  All these test were done at

Google SearchWiki dies after two days!!

According to Techcrunch Google Pulls the Google SearchWiki.  Unsure as to way  but here’s what they said:

Users are reporting that the recent changes to Google’s search engine, called SearchWiki, have simply disappeared from the site. It’s certainly gone from my account.

User reactions were mixed but weighted heavily towards “this is lame,” and there was no way to turn off the features other than to conduct Google searches without being logged in. Another way to turn it off was to switch search engines.

[via TechCrunch]

I’ve got my theory on this, and it’s quite a good theory.   I think it was a making search results come up wrong or not at all.   The last two days they’ve had that going my page views have drop BIG time.    According to my Stats I’ve had 236 Unique Visits for Thursday, and 232 Wednesday.   My Friday stats show that I only got 185 Unique Visits, dropping 40 to 50 people.  My stats for today which is incomplete shows that I’ve only gotten 136 unique visits.  Although that is complete you can see where I dropped drastically.   I think Google was getting yelled at by websites due to the stats dropping.   I am guessing people could tell if they wanted to go to a site just by reading the comments.  This will hurt every site, including TechCrunch.   I will say this is only a theory and this might or might not be the case.

Did the Xbox Experience break netflix on Demand activation?

According to Google Trends people are trying to activate there Xbox Experience with Netflix.  This could be a problem for Netflix, I just tried and they are extremely slow in response.   I am willing to guess that later on tonight the Netflix will go down when everyone comes home from work and tries the new Xbox Experience with Netflix.   I’ve heard of problems with activating the Netflix on the Xbox 360, this will become 10 times as bad tonight when people want to hook up and try out this new service from Netflix.   Microsoft should of released this one day at a time for each time zone.   Some blogs talking about the problems that might come along with the update are:

• Columbia Tribune
• The Standard
• Joystiq
• Venture Beat

Although this is just a few that talks about the experience and Netflix problems there are going to be more tonight when people start to come home from work wanting this service.   I would bet over 100$ it will probably go down because to many request to sign up!! I hope they have the IT guys ready for this tonight or it will be a long night!!

Looks like a scam to me : Personal Shopping Assistant!

Good afternoon!

We found your resume at _________________ and we would like to propose you a
position of Personal Shopping Assistant.

Imagine having an exciting job with incredible salary (up to $100,000/year) that
lets you use your creativity while being paid to shop. Welcome to the world of
personal shopping!

As we know shopping is the world’s favorite leisure activity, but in our busy
society an increasing number of people need to hire someone to do their
shopping. Thus personal shoppers are more in demand than ever before.

There are absolutely NO START-UP FEES and NO FEES for being employed at this
position. As long as you live in the USA, and you have a credit card or any
other line of credit, have 1 or 2 free hours during the day – you are eligible
for this job!

This is what you will have to do in short:
• Purchase the requested goods using your credit card.
• Send us receipts.
• Wait for us to issue a credit to your credit card in the amount of purchase
plus shipping fee plus your commission which comprises 10%.
• Ship out the goods.
• You are finished, come back for a new list of goods.

Paypal is having troubles today.

According to Sue Bailey and I’ll quote:
Many sellers are reporting a problem this morning with PayPal withdrawals: attempting to move cash to your bank account throws up an error page beginning Sorry, an error occurred after you clicked the last link.
[Via Tamebay]

It seems to be something going on with Paypal. I’ve not tried it to day but I might just to see what happens. If anyone else is having this trouble let me know. Accord to Sue it seems to be limited to Merchants but that doesn’t mean sellers and others are having the same trouble. I also don’t know if it is just affecting the United Kingdom area or not but I wanted to let everyone know that this might affect you to. So let’s find out if it is affecting the US also.

Left 4 Dead Sneak Peak!

Yes they finally released the demo. According to my sources and I’ll quote:

Newell said: “We will be releasing demos for both the Xbox and for the PC. I don’t know what the date is for release on that, though. I think it’s going to contain the first part of one of the campaigns. I think it’ll probably be Hospital but I’m not sure. That’s a decision that Doug Lombardi is making.”

[Via Videogamer]

If you want to see the game screen shots you and preview the pictures all you need to do is go HERE.  You can also start pre-purchasing Left 4 Dead on The PC and be ready to play when it comes out. Watch the Video from Steam for Left 4 Dead Intro In English. You can also Gift the Game for the Holidays, I would like one to get and try it out so if you want to give me the Gift just send it to me via my email address.  According to Steam, you will haveto pre-purchase Left 4 Dead and then the Demo will be available for you a week before hand!! so that is one good thing!!  So go buy it and enjoy!!!  Also you will need to install Steam to enjoy the demo.

Windows update is getting a revision!

According to Computer World, dated Oct 31, 2008 and I’ll quote:

“Over the next couple of months, we’ll be rolling out another infrastructure update to the Windows Update agent (client code),” said an unidentified Microsoft employee on the Windows Update team’s official blog. “This update makes it possible for users to install more than 80 updates at the same time.”

[via Computer World]

Now if your like me and have several computers who need to be updated at a given schedule, you sometimes worry about these updates that come along that might just break your system. I have been using a program call Offline Updater, which does what Autopatcher does really nicely. So why is Microsoft sending out this patch? Two reasons, one they want you to be able to update your operating System without hurting your system integrity.

Now lets talk about the integrity of having to reboot your system. You see, every time you reboot the system, it causes the system hardware some strain.  It is something like having starting up a car, sooner or later you will have the starter go out, because of to much start up.

Time to Change your clocks.

Time to change those clocks of ours

Having been looking at one of my old clocks that would automatically change for Daylight Savings Time, I’ve had to keep reminding myself that it is an hour off. Starting tonight at 2 PM, it will be right. So I thought I would help people keep there computer clocks up to date by suggesting some good programs to us to keep your system having the right time.  So people know what dates are being affected according to the Greenwichmeantime they say  this:

Beginning in 2007, Daylight Saving Time is extended one month and the schedule for the states of the United States that adopt daylight saving time will be:

2 a.m. on the Second Sunday in March
to
2 a.m. on the First Sunday of November.

So that saying goes it “Fall back, Spring Forward“  So now here are some great programs to better help you get your computer clock up to snuff:

Worldtimeclock Atomic Clock Sync Program – It is a free program for you to use with your Windows.  Although you have to make sure your selected the right timezone once it is installed all you will need in an internet connection to sync your windows time with the atomic clock.

Fidelelity to Lay off more than 4000 people in 2008.

Fidelity Investments acknowledged yesterday it is studying cost cutting but declined to comment on an industry report that it plans to lay off up to 4,000 employees as plunging stock markets cut into the value of its mutual funds business.

[via Boston.com]

Now this is another example of all the layoffs that are coming due to the recession. If you want to find out all the other layoffs that I have found just search my site. There are far to many for me to list now. I am not happy with what seems to be and down ward spiral.

With Black Friday for 2008 quickly approaching!!

Since Black Friday is approaching next month, I Figured it is time to point to places where you could find them.  Now that being said, I don’t think people should take some of these ads serious because of all the possibility.  Where these ads are being placed is not going to be the absolute final end all price.   Knowing these competitors like I do, they are going to have an ace in the hole.  You will probably not find out until a week or a few days before black Friday.

They will of course try to keep the really juicy stuff out of the hands of people who blab about this on the net.

Why do they have Black Friday?

The term “Black Friday” originated in Philadelphia in reference to the heavy traffic on that day. More recently, merchants and the media have used it instead to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers are in the black (i.e., turning a profit).

[via Wikipedia]

Largest Employer : University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is planning layoffs!!

Is this the beginning or the end of the recession?  After  seeing this today I wanted to talk about this development.  If they layoff a large number of people is this going to effect your chances of finding a job?  Here’s what they had to say:

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has plans to reduce its 50,000 workforce by a small percentage. UPMC did not immediately release any specifics.

“As the economy deteriorates, we are proactively taking these steps to ensure that our growth in expenses is not outpacing our growth in revenues,” a UPMC statement said.

[via WTAE.TV]

So now that they have said this, what’s the percentages of the workforce are going to be laid off? I wanted to talk about how you could get ready for the imminent day of this. Here’s some good links to consider:

• 5 ways to improve your chance of getting hired.
• Are you asking to be scammed?

And here are some other companies who are planning layoffs or have laid off people:

• Mahalo Lay’s off around 10% of it’s workforce!!
• Merck Laid off 13% of it’s workforce

Western Kentucky Shooting.

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (CBS) ― Western Kentucky University was on lockdown Wednesday after someone reported seeing people with weapons in a building on a satellite campus and police later received reports that shots had been fired on the main campus, more than a mile away.

[via Wcbstv.com]

Having been one of the few to live in Kentucky,  I wanted to let people know about this little development. According to Transworld : Western Kentucky University: Shots Fired on School’s South Campus, Armed Gunmen Still Loose.

I would like to hear what all happened.  So please talk about this.  Please remember to pray to all the people involved and ask that we keep a calm hand in this!!

*UPDATE*

5 students taken into custody on Western Kentucky campus

• Story Highlights
• NEW: 5 students taken into custody for questioning; police end campus lockdown
  
• NEW: No shots fired, contrary to initial reports, university’s vice president says
  
• NEW: Altercations originated at social event Saturday, continued Wednesday
  
• Authorities believe altercation began at South Campus Building and moved

Are you asking to be scammed?

As we go further into the economic death, we are faced with the most undesirable aspect of the human culture.  That is to say, scammers are going to use the chance to find people to scam.  I don’t say this lightly because scammers have become more cunning and dubious through the years.  They are actually using the internet as well as most companies.  They are going to sites like Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com, and other hiring sites to get people to apply for jobs.

<<See Previous Post – Nationwide Marketing Scam

Having said that, I recently had a problem with being tried to be scammed.  I applied to a job posted on Careerbuilder and that is how they got a hold of my home address.  I did not think about the security problems associated with applying for jobs on line, until recently.

As you can see that is how they got a hold of my information and have made myself vulnerable to scams and also, other potential problems.  I am talking about Theft ID and also spam.  Although spam is to be expected with anything we do online.  I’ve come to the conclusion that we will always have to deal with spam.   I wanted to talk about how to be careful when you apply for online jobs and  put your information out on the internet.  I’ve started taking some steps to prevent this from happening again.