Netbooks - everybody wants one!

They are flying off the shelves and it seems like everybody simply has to have one. The most attractive aspect is the price – somewhere around three hundred to five hundred dollars for what looks like a laptop, acts like a laptop but isnt exactly one. So whats the difference? Price for one. Netbooks are cheap! cheap! cheap! And whats the catch? Well, as we all know, you get what you pay for.

If you want a computer on the go which is light, connects to the internet but has limited performance, then the netbook is for you. Its great as a second computer, and if it gets lost, stolen or broken when you are travelling by bus in the wilds of Mongolia, it wont break your heart.

On the downside cheap means less. Some netbooks run Windows operating systems and some run Linux. If you enjoy working with both systems then you wont mind. If you cant be bothered learning a different system from what you are used to just so you can use the netbook, then you wont enjoy the netbook experience. The RAM memory is minimal, everything runs slow, and there is very little graphics ability. Forget watching DVDs. Also remember the smaller the keyboard the harder it is to type, and for eye comfort you need a minimum ten inch screen to prevent a cramped experience. Battery life is generally poor and processors are slow.

So whats the plus side? If you are tired of lugging laptops on long travels then the netbook with its basic features will let you connect to the internet and get some work done while on the go. If you buy one just because you fancy having it, then you will find that sitting at home or the office and using the netbook is not worth it. You will run back to your desktop or regular laptop, and the netbook with its limitations will finally gather dust.

3G - Three girls? Three grand? What is it?

The new mobile with 3G cost me all of two hundred dollars in the duty free. So now I'm all set and ready to go. 3G means I have broadband access through my mobile - so I can zip through the internet without www (wait, wait, wait!). I can also send and receive video and therefore see and be seen. Whether this is good or bad depends on perspective. Who would want to see an early morning vision with frizzy hair and old pyjamas?

3G phones can be used to watch TV. If you can bear watching on a 2 inch by 2 inch screen.

And dont forget all this comes for a price. You have to subscribe to the service and shell out monthlies. Worth it or not? For me, not. So why did I get the phone with 3G. Because its there and its cool to have it!

Windows 7 on the way

For those who love the latest here is something to gladden your heart. Windows 7 is already in the pre-beta version and should be here soon. If you are like me and cant wait to try whats new then its for you. A sneak preview indicates there are many new features especially with their media center. Also at the bottom of the screen the taskbar is much more Mac like. Gadgets will go where you want them. No more sidebar and Wi-Fi selection comes with a single click. Also it promises to be even more user friendly in the way you synch with portable devices. However we all want to know what its going to cost. Lets wait and see.

Goodbye screen savers!

Remember how we all started using screen savers and felt we were doing our bit to preserve our computer monitors. So we watched the flying saucers or bricks in an endless line and thought we were preventing burn in of our monitor. That was the time when we had tube monitors. Now there are no more burn ins. Flat LCD monitors don’t burn and if you are still looking at flying saucers or that slide show of last years party you are way behind the times. When you are not sitting in front of the monitor just switch it off.

Telstra, the big phone company in Australia removed all corporate screen savers from some thirty five thousand office computers. They say the change will cut tons of carbon dioxide emission which is equal to taking 140 cars off the road for a year. Good for them!

So let those flying saucers crash!

Calling widget fans

If you like adding widgets to your blog, then try this website. There are hundreds of interesting widgets to try out and install.

http://www.widgetbox.com/

Lots of fun widgets!

Hint for the week - passwords

If you belong to the group who use the same password for many accounts and an easy to remember one, then you are not alone. Its easy on the head not to have to remember words that have no meaning and (horror of horrors) pecking out symbols on the keyboard. But if you want to remain safe on the net then these hints should strengthen your passwords.

Use a jumble of numbers and letters. Throw in a few symbols as well such as the % or & sign.

Use at least eight characters and randomly capitalize.

The big no no is to avoid using your birthday, personal names of family members, your house address number and easy strings such as 123 or abc.

If you have different accounts use different passwords, though the temptation is great to just make do with the same one.

Change passwords for important accounts at least once in three months.

Avoid using actual words in any language. Password crackers run language dictionaries to find passwords. Not at all difficult for them. They can run through thousands of words in minutes until they find your word.

After going through all these hints how do you remember the password that makes no sense? Best safe storage is good old pen and paper. Not on your computer

How close is too close?

Monitors should be a minimum of two feet from your eyes. Three is better. As somebody who leans into the monitor and gawks at the screen, this piece of advice is very hard to follow. But its all to save your vision and prevent eyestrain. If you cant read comfortably at that distance dont get closer to the monitor but enlarge the print. I have to remind myself of this and keep at it. Also, every hour at least take a five minute break from looking at the screen. All this will give you healthy bright eyes. Moms advice to eat orange veggies like carrots might also do the trick.

Exergaming with Wii

Of course we all know what Wii stands for. Its us. We the people, from five to ninety, who can use Nintendo Wii and enjoy it. Exergaming is the latest fun way to work out with the Wii. But those who do so in small spaces beware. Its estimated that millions worth of damage has happened in homes where exercise enthusiasts have got carried away and toppled the TV or fallen over the furniture.

And a helpful aside for all XP fans. No more XP sales starting now. Vista is here to stay.

Fingernails and cell phones

What have long fingernails got to do with touch screen phones? Plenty. A tap with the end of the long fingernail wont work. You have to touch the screen properly with your finger. Which is why the ladies have started complaining that the new iphone and others of their breed is not comfortable for them. Hope the makers are listening. Or of course, you can square down those nails.

3G phones

The new iphone at less than two hundred dollars ($199 to be exact) has 3G. And thats a whole new world for cell phone junkies. You can now video conference with the person you are talking to and see if they are in their pyjamas and curlers or presentable. You can watch live TV on your phone. With broad band you will only wait seconds to read your email. Plus all the wonderful things that the iphone already had. Launch date is July 11 worldwide. However, if you are like me who use a cell phone to call from here to there and that too only when necessary, then all these lovely features are just to look at and marvel over but not necessarily to buy. As my Dad used to say - you can appreciate something but you dont necessarily have to own it. And with these words of wisdom I leave you for the present.

Fire! Fire!

A firewall is the most confusing aspect of computer security for the novice. Most of us know what an anti virus or anti spyware tool does. But the action of a firewall is not immediately apparent. For the truly ignorant – no a firewall doesn’t stop computer fires! We hope you never go that route.

Basically a firewall is either a software or hardware that blocks malicious attacks on your computer that come through the internet. All you need is to be connected to the internet for the attacks to begin. It doesn’t matter if your browser is closed and you are not really using the computer. There are millions of zombie like PCs on the internet constantly scanning the net to find a vulnerable computer. Its like a car thief walking down a road and trying every car door. Sooner or later he will find an open one. If your computer is connected to the internet they will find you and fast.

Without a firewall you will probably last five minutes before your machine has a malware on it. Anti virus wont protect you in this case.You need a firewall. The good news is if you are using Windows XP or Vista there is an inbuilt firewall to protect your machine. If you have a broad band router then by default it also should have its own firewall. But sometimes this is still not enough. Many anti virus programmes include their own firewall and these are very uptodate and effective. Check out your antivirus and see if it has complete internet protection. That should include a firewall.

If you just want to check if your windows firewall is on then go to the control panel and click on firewall to see if ON is checked.

If you want a free firewall then zone alarm is the way to go. I tried it out but uninstalled as obviously I wasn’t one happy customer. It started off well but then it started blocking just about every site I accessed and I didn’t want to always fiddle with the grant access controls. That got on my nerves so I uninstalled. Others swear by it. Let me know what you think.

Tip for the week

We all hate those advertising pop ups. Even with the pop up filter on they manage to get past it. Clicking on them to close might lead to downloading a trojan or worse. After all ,they know you will click to close, so why not make it interesting all round. One way to close the pop-up is to hit CTRL + W on the keyboard. Pop up gone!

Phishing and Spoofing!

We’ve all heard of it but what exactly is it?

Phishing (reminds us of fishing) is trying to get your personal information or bank/credit card passwords to commit a fraud. How does it happen?

First you receive an email from your bank or credit card company asking you to act immediately on the message. There is generally a sense of urgency – they are going to close your online access, they need re-confirmation of your personal data, your account is blocked till you reactivate it etc. There is also a link to take you to the company’s website. When you click on the link you are indeed taken to a website which is very similar to the genuine one. This fake website is called a SPOOF.

Once you fill in your personal information on the forms they so helpfully provide, a criminal now has access to your account.

Merely clicking on the link and going no further can also mean trouble, for the click could download a program to your computer to log your keyboard strokes. This is called a keyboard logger and the information is sent to a criminal ring who will analyse it and wait for the time when you login to your accounts. (Nobody wants to read your letter to Aunt Jo, but they all want your logins and passwords!)

So how do we protect ourselves from phishing and spoofing?

First, never click on links provided by emails. Preferably don’t even open such emails.

Banks never ask for this type of information through email. If in doubt contact your bank before taking any kind of action on the internet.

Its very easy to spot a fake email from the Bank of Sri Lanka if you have never had an account there. But when you get one from a bank where you do have an account is when to watch out and not trip up. Spoof websites have become very clever and the logos and padlock etc are all there to reassure you and draw you in.

Monitor your accounts regularly and when you sign in make sure you type out the URL each time. Boring but necessary.

Your bank will tell you on your account page when you last logged in.

Check to make sure you did indeed login at that time.

Never store passwords and other key information on a computer. The good old book and pen are the best bet.

Have a good antivirus and update regularly.

Change passwords every few months. Most of us are lazy and stay with a password forever.

Should the worst happen and you have been the victim of internet fraud contact the bank or your credit card company immediately. Most have insurance against this type of fraud and when you signed up for online banking they have agreed to refund the money to you in case of fraud, provided you notify them within a specific time and sign into your account at least once a month or once in two months, depending on their policy. Which means, don’t leave online accounts dormant but sign in at least once a month. Otherwise the fraud refund guarantee could be invalid.

Your laptop files open to inspection.

Travellers have increasingly found their cell phones, lap tops and even MP3 players seized by airport officials for full inspection. Not just stick them in the plastic tray for screening. But a thorough going over of the contents. If you have password protected them, you will be asked to give them your password as well. Dont bother protesting. Its been ruled legal. Some travellers have complained they have never got back their equipment. Others have been arrested on the spot for carrying prohibited porn pics. Business travellers will have a hard time as company information is often confidential. Some companies are sending travellers with all but blank laptops. All files they access through the internet at destination. This is the trend and its only going to get worse according to current forecasts.

Does delete mean gone forever?

What happens when you sell or give away your cranky old computer and get a new one? So you removed all your files and being somewhat paranoid even reformatted the hard disk. Is everything wiped forever? Sorry - the answer is not. Short of taking the hard disk out and breaking it in two, nothing is wiped forever and if somebody really wanted to retrieve your information they can do it despite the reformat. Bears thinking about before you donate or sell that old computer that had your bank records, the page where you saved all your passwords, love letters you regret or whatever is likely to haunt you from the past!

Bye Bye XP

XP is on its way out. As for now the June 30 deadline is valid. Which means Vista is here to stay. HP, Dell and Lenovo have all said they will downgrade operating systems on new machines from Vista to XP at customer request and will continue to do so until 2009. If you are buying a new computer and want XP ask for it. Of course all this is moot if Microsoft backs down and gives XP an extension.

Will you be forced to upgrade? Not really. But new software might work better with Vista. So in time it would be hard not to upgrade to Vista.

Can you run both Vista and XP on the same computer? Yes, if you are feeling brave you can partition and run both.

As for me I really dont see why anyone would want to stay with XP. At least try Vista. I have - and never looked back.

Hi from Nimmi

Hi Everybody,

Geek for Fun is my tech for non techies blog. There will be how to hints, latest geek news, and discussions on common computer problems. You are welcome to send in your comments and contribute. Y'all come back you hear!

Nimmi