Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Windows Vista Coming Soon

Remember back when windows 95 was first released how people waited overnight
online to get a copy? Well... maybe you don’t but Windows 95 was a huge step
forward in personal computing. It was the interface that made it possible for the
average person to own and interact with a computer. People might not line up to get the new Vista but never the less it will be the operating system to bring us into the next generation on PC’s.

Originally labeled “Longhorn” Vista is scheduled to be released in December so
production computers (Dell, Compaq etc.) will have it on the shelves by Christmas.
The retail version is scheduled for January. Vista had it’s release date moved back
several times because MS was having trouble building in all the new features they
wanted to introduce. In fact this release will be missing some of these features but
they will follow later as extensions.

What is new in Vista? Some of the features are new and very cool while others were
badly needed. Obviously the most needed was security, and Vista now includes built in spyware tools and a phishing filter. Many of the network and browser security
issues Vista has corrected. A new Internet Explorer browser, with very cool tabbing and search features. It will also allow multiple home pages. There are massive performance and stability improvements. New calendar, Media Player, DVD authoring and burning tools, a movie maker and a couple of versions will have Media Center built in.

Now I mentioned versions, there will be six all together, so there is bound to be one
that will suite your needs. For the business versions there are new search and productivity tools and the new integration with the new MS Office and business tools will make it even more productive.

There is a price to pay for this, the new Vista is not a small program and though it is the first scalable OS, which means it will read your system and install only what your system will support you will need a fairly strong machine They say it will run on 512 Megs of RAM but you better figure on at least a Gig. You will also need fairly decent graphic capabilities. If you have an older machine don’t think about running Vista. We will go into more detail about the different features in future articles but I can tell you that after training on Vista, I like it.

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Posted by Lone Bird Studio Ltd. @ 12:39 PM

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Warning-DO NOT OPEN UNSOLICITED EMAIL

There are many threats online that may seem very safe when you recieve them in your inbox. Lets’ start with Phishing and Pharming because there is no software you can use to stop them. For these you need to be aware they exist and watch out for some tell tale signs. Also, the one golden rule that would prevent most email born issues ”Don’t open unsolicited email”! Let me say that again, “DO NOT OPEN UNSOLICITED EMAIL”.
Phishing (pronounced ‘fishing’). This is a scam in which you receive an official looking email from eBay or PayPal or maybe it looks like it came from your bank. There will be some excuse for changes to your account and they need you to re-send your information. Sometimes they even provide a link. Either way don’t do it. This scam is designed to collect personal account and financial info and is one of the leading causes of idenity theft.
You can tell the real from the fake if you look carefully. First, official
emails will address you by name not as ‘valued customer’. Second,
official emails will direct you to log into your account, not solicit information right there. Again, don’t trust the link provided. Open a fresh browser window and type in the web address. This will prevent you from being re-directed. And third, if you really want to be sure, you can contact the company and see if they did indeed send you the email.
A growing offshoot of this scam are the emails that offer cheap medications or unbelievable prices on software. The great majority of these are just to collect your credit card information. The thing to remember here is the old adage “If it is too good to be true, it isn’t”.
And if they do ship you a product you can bet that it its either pirated or of inferior quality. The best thing to do is a Google search and sees what comes up.

If you have recently ordered something on PayPal or Ebay, watch out for these fake e-mails that will look official, but have a fake return e-mail address. And remember to contact us at Computer Guys Live if you need to scan your computer for spyware and viruses.

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Posted by Lone Bird Studio Ltd. @ 9:41 AM

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