Ask a Geek

At least once a month I receive a question from someone that received a warning e-mail, panicked and forwarded that same message to fifty billion friends and myself. Generally, the request is to make sure we and all Cap Rock Internet subscribers know about it. The e-mails are always hoaxes or extremely exaggerated, at least all the ones I have ever gotten. However, just in case one of those e-mails, someday, is legitimate let's say 99.9 percent of them are hoaxes. This way I cover myself in case you ever do get a real one.

The forwarded messages almost always say “This is real, I checked with insert source here” Never take their word for it, you don't know the original perpetrator of this e-mail. In fact, this is a big neon sign telling you it's probably fake. Do your own checking and I’m not talking about links in the e-mail, web pages are easily doctored. One of my favorite places to verify authenticity is snopes.com. Let’s use an e-mail I received today as an example of how to verify authenticity.

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I received this question from a customer this morning and thought it was a good one to answer on Ask A Geek.

“All of my out-going email arrives at the other person's computer marked spam....why is this and how can I stop it?”

It has a way to do with how you are sending your e-mail. Do you send it out with a huge list of addresses in the “To:” field? Most Anti-Spam and Junk Mail folders will flag your message as spam if you do. Try placing those addresses in the BCC field instead, it may help, it may not. Everything really depends on the recipients spam settings.

That’s right the FBI is taking its fight against spam to the Zombie’s! What does that mean?



Internet hijackers use malicious software to take control of your machine without you even knowing it. Once the software is installed the hijacker is able to remotely control the PC using it in coordinated internet attacks, hosting illegal file sharing and send an estimated 55 billion in spam every day. An estimated 55 million computers are infected with this malicious software. The infected machine is in essence turned into a zombie and once enough computers are compromised the hijacker has a robot network or “Botnet”



The FBI is trying to take down these botnets, but they are huge sometimes containing tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of personal computers. Operation Bot Roast is an ongoing and coordinated initiative to disrupt and dismantle these robot networks and to put the hijackers behind bars. The FBI has already put three of these major hijackers behind bars. They have also identified about 1 million computers across the country that have been compromised and will be contacting the PC owner to notify them so the owner can take steps to remove the infection on their PC.

Don’t think you are one of the hijacked machines? You could be, very easily. Most likely the machine you are working on right now is compromised with some type of spyware. Your home machine is probably worse and if you have children that use the internet, good luck keeping it secure.

For help in getting rid of spyware and keeping your machine secure visit this post.

Are you still e-mailing your photos to friends and family? Why? Not only is it time consuming and outdated, it’s a little boring. There are hundreds of websites that will host those pictures for you and allow you to arrange, categorize, and update your pictures with a few clicks of a mouse, not to mention you can use it as a backup. Flickr, Bubbleshare, Fotki, are all popular photo sites that will host those precious pictures for you for free. These sites allow you to create sets or albums to categorize your pictures. You can make the photos private allowing only certain people to view them or make them public and share with everyone. There are also websites like Dropshots which allow you to not only share pictures, but video as well. If you decide you want a little more functionality then the free websites offer, alternatives like Photosite have a premium service that includes customizable photo albums, a photoblog, professional online printing service, and your own domain name (familynamephotos.com). Each of the services offers something a little different and you can take a tour or browse the site to see what each service offer and which one is the right choice for you.

I currently use Flickr. It only required a yahoo account, something which I already had. If you don’t it’s free and easy to join just click the signup button and follow the instructions or if you have a yahoo account, like me, just use your username and password to login. Soon as you are finished logging in it will ask if you want to upload photos. You can upload six pictures at a time. I usually make them public but this choice is up to you. That is all there is to getting started. Don’t be afraid to play around and find your own way, creating sets, making comments on or about your pictures. There is a lot to do on Flickr so have fun! You can visit a set of spring time pictures Barbara took HERE and see why this method is so much better then sending photos via e-mail.

EDIT: Flickr appears to be experiencing difficulties and running slow. If you can't get to it now. Check back later and try again. The other sites are working if you would like to to view them. - Thanks.

In analog phones the voice is transmitted directly to another phone with no conversion. Analog phones are more prone to interference and eavesdropping. With digital, voice is converted to a digital format called binary. Which are ones and zeroes that electronics can read. Unwanted noise can then be filtered out to reduce interference. By doing this Digital phones make it harder to eavesdrop making your calls a little more secure. Also digital phones have the ability to offer you more features such as Caller ID, Call Waiting, and Voice Mail.

An easy comparison between the two technologies is to think in terms of music. Analog phones are represented by an old record player while digital phones are CD players.

Digital cordless phones can also travel over a higher frequency called gigahertz increasing the quality of the sound and extending the range of the handset.

In the NCAA Tournament Bracket Contest the runner up was Ricky Martinez. However, the Georgetown Hoya’s killed his chances of taking home the crown. The winner and champion of the Cap Rock Bracket is…

Barak Harlan!

He was able to pull out a win by picking the Florida Gators to take it all. Congratulations Barak and thanks to all that participated in the event. I hope you all had fun!

We’ve talked extensively about Bluetooth and I forgot to mention the security aspect. Data transmission and security go hand in hand. No one wants someone else to be able to see their personal information. In today’s environment we have a decision to make, security or convenience. It’s true that wireless devices are much more susceptible to intrusion then their wire line counterparts. However, that should not dissuade you from making that next logical step to wireless access. Bluetooth as a technology was developed with security in mind not as an after thought and as a result is much more secure then other wireless technologies, but there are still vulnerabilities.

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Do you like college basketball and think you have what it takes to pick the best bracket? I hope to see you at Ask a Geek’s first Tournament Pick’em where you can try for second place. Prizes to be announced!

Just go to this url:

http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/men

The following is the Group ID and Password.

Group ID#: 96787
Password: caprock

It’s all in fun so be sure to join up and root on your favorite teams and trash talk is encouraged. GO TECH!

Edit:
On the Tournament Bracket you must have a Yahoo Account. It's free to set up and if you have any questions. Please e-mail or call me. Sorry for the confusion.

Bonnie!

I will be drawing for the Digital Photo Frame this morning at 10:30am because the 3rd is on Saturday. Be sure to get in your last minute comments and questions before 10:00am this morning. I really appreciate all you that participated and I hope you had fun. Look for more of these events in the future. Again thank you so much and GOOD LUCK!

On a side note today is Texas Independence day.

“We view ourselves on the eve of battle. We are nerved for the contest, and must conquer or perish. It is vain to look for present aid: none is at hand. We must now act or abandon all hope! Rally to the standard, and be no longer the scoff of mercenary tongues! Be men, be free men, that your children may bless their father's name.”
-Sam Houston



Here are a couple more quotes that spoke to me as a Texan:

I must say as to what I have seen of Texas, it is the garden spot of the world,the best land and the best prospects for health I ever saw, and I do believe it is a fortune to any man to come here
- Davey Crockett

Texas is neither southern nor western. Texas is Texas –
Senator William Blakley