INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STUFF    

          After thinking about it, I decided that "COMPUTER STUFF" was too limiting of a title for it, so I renamed it in November 2003.

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          My Machine List

          host               processor            RAM     hard disk space     operating system(s)             netlink     uplink

          JOHNSARA03    Athlon XP 1800+   256MB  160GB                 Windows XP Pro SP2            100Mbit   Verizon DSL

          JAMIE01          Celeron 333MHz    192MB  TBA                    Windows 98 Second Edition   100Mbit   Verizon DSL

          JOHNSARA2      TBA                   TBA      TBA                    Windows 98 Second Edition   100Mbit   none

 

          (TBA: to be announced)

 

          I had a Dell Inspiron 7500 notebook allocated to me for work purposes, but it went out of commission for good in mid-January

          2005.

 

          Thanks to Fred Weston for inspiring me to provide this information.

 

          The Basics of Computer Security

          My place of employment has been focusing more and more on security.  In September 2002 my supervisor conceived a simple model

          that he calls the "Triad."  (He lays no claim to this model, we are sure that many other IT professionals have conceived this model as

          well.)

 

                    - data backup

                    - protection against viruses

                    - protection against intrusion and attacks from the Internet

 

          In 2004 we added another facet of security to the model (making it a "Quadad?"):

 

                    - elimination of spyware, adware and malware

 

          We typically address these issues by installing some of the following software:

 

                    - VERITAS Software's Backup Exec for Windows Servers (data backup)

                    - Stomp's Backup MyPC (data backup; previously published by VERITAS Software)

                    - Computer Associates' BrightStor ARCserve (data backup)

                    - Roxio's Easy CD & DVD Creator (data backup)

                    - Symantec's Norton AntiVirus (anti-virus)

                    - GRISOFT's AVG Free Edition (anti-virus)

                    - Check Point/Zone Labs' ZoneAlarm (AKA EZ Firewall) (firewall)

                    - Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE Personal (spyware/adware/malware removal)

                    - Microsoft's Microsoft AntiSpyware (spyware/adware/malware removal)

                    - PepiMK Software's SpyBot-Search&Destroy (spyware/adware/malware removal)

 

          If you have not addressed these issues on your computers, do so or hire someone to do it for you ASAP.

 

          Links

          Here are some links to web sites about IT (information technology) stuff:

 

          2wire (high-speed Internet information)

          95 is Alive (technical support for Windows 95)

          About.com's Focus on Windows (news and tips)

          About.com's Internet/Network Security (news and tips)

          Richard Akerman's TCP & UDP Port Table

          Richard Akerman's Trojan TCP/IP Ports list

          All Bios World (motherboard BIOS information)

          AnandTech (hardware news and reviews)

          Altair Technologies' EventID.Net (event log troubleshooting assistance for NT-core Windows)

          AnalogX (Windows utilities for Internet, music composition and more)

          Advice for Evaluating the Content of a Web Site (adapted from chapter 4 of Todd Curtis' book Understanding Aviation Safety Data)

          AnswersThatWork.com (?)

          AntiOnline (?)

          antivirusebook.com (?)

          ARTLab's OpenGL.org (OpenGL video information)

          Association of Information Technology Professionals, Los Angeles Chapter

          attrition.org (computer security information)

          Daryl Banttari's TCP/IP Primer

          Wim Bervoets' Wim's BIOS Page (motherboard BIOS information)

          Bill's Site (technical assistance for 9x-core Windows)

          Steven Bink's Winxp.Bink.nu (Windows XP information)

          Dan Bricklin's My Home Network Wireless 802.11b and a Router-Switch (Dan co-created VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program)

          Brother Lizardo's LEGO DAT Tape Loader (a bit of humor for data backup administrators)

          Scot Finnie's Scot's Newsletter (news and technical tips for Windows and high-speed Internet connections)

          Fyodor's Insecure.Org (general computer security, slanted toward UNIX/Linux)

          John Iliff's Ten Commandments of Troubleshooting a Computer System in a Public Library (not just for public libraries!)

          Larry Magid's PCAnswer.com (Windows technical tips from the popular IT expert/columnist/commentator)

          Microsoft's Knowledge Base (troubleshooting assistance for all Microsoft products)

          Microsoft's Online Crash Analysis (online crash reporting for Windows XP)

          PC Flank (Windows computer security)

          Rhode Island Soft Systems' Vmyths.com (hoax information)

          Deb and Tom Shinder's TACteam (assistance for Microsoft Certified System Engineers and aspirants)

          Symantec's Security Response (varied computer/router security, slanted toward Windows)

          A Techie's Guide to Combatting RNAAPP.EXE (for Windows users with dialup modem problems)

          vcdhelp.com (general assistance with video CDs and DVDs)

          Linux dissertation from an unidentified Linux user

          research into Windows 95's virtual memory manager and related performance from an end user of Roxio's Easy CD Creator

 

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          Last updated 2005-07-24