San Diego Computer Repair

The Wild, Wild Web: Wrestling Online Privacy

2012-02-11T15:51:00.000-08:00

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) | GET INFORMED!!!

2011-12-26T21:16:00.000-08:00

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as H.R. 3261, is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011, by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors. The bill expands the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. Now before the House Judiciary Committee, it builds on the similar PRO-IP Act of 2008 and the corresponding Senate bill, the Protect IP Act.

The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who requests the court orders, the actions could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators such as PayPal from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for 10 pieces of music or movies within six months. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.

Proponents of the bill say it protects the intellectual property market and corresponding industry, jobs and revenue, and is necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws especially against foreign websites. Opponents say that it infringes on First Amendment rights, is Internet censorship, will cripple the Internet, and will threaten whistle-blowing and other free speech.

The House Judiciary Committee held hearings on SOPA on November 16 and December 15, 2011. The Committee is scheduled to continue debate when Congress returns from its winter recess.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act

Remote Computer Repair

2011-12-11T19:10:00.000-08:00

We offer computer repair remotely and to do this, Windows 7 & Windows Vista must have the automatic sleep mode turned off. Here is how to disable your computer or laptop from entering sleep or hibernation mode:

Offsite Backup - NAS, DYNDNS & FTP

2011-12-07T17:31:00.001-08:00

It is no secret that backing up your precious data can be a daunting and time consuming task but what if I told you that we at Ocean Computers have created the solution? The solution is easy and you will love the fact that your offsite backup drive will remain in your possession at all times. This means no more trusting some company offsite to manage and store your confidential company information.

All you will need is the following to get started:

* NAS DRIVE W/FTP & DYNAMIC DNS CAPABILITIES
* HIGH SPEED INTERNET CONNECTION AT BOTH LOCATIONS
(OFFICE & OFFSITE LOCATION)

These devices are setup in RAID Format to ensure data protection.

With a onetime fee starting at 1500.00, your data can be backed up every day so your data is always duplicated to the location of your choice. Contact us today to get your personalized quote and to start protecting your data today!

San Diego Data Recovery

2011-12-05T07:46:00.000-08:00

If the media is inaccessible we will first test the components and closely examine the drive platters to determine the extent of physical damage, which enables us to layout a course of action for each individual drive. Hard drive data recovery involves replacing failed components such as read/write head assemblies, logic control components and drive motors in a clean room environment. In most cases, the recovery process involves restructuring of the data by examining the low-level data sectors and determining what fixes to file system structures are needed to gain access to the logical data. Using highly sophisticated techniques and proprietary equipment and software, our engineers are able to fix and recover data from raw images of all operating systems. We use only non-destructive data recovery processes that use drive sector cloning. This means we pull data from your drive on a sector by sector basis, and we work directly on the clone. This will ensure your drive is not damaged further and that a second image of the original structure can be acquired if needed.

After determining what steps will be necessary to complete your recovery, we will contact you for your approval. No work will be done without your approval. As soon as you approve the recovery, our technicians) will continue with the recovery effort, validate the data and place it on a suitable replacement media, whether that is another drive, CD-ROM, DVD, any other media of your choice.

Personal computers, workstations, laptops, PDA's and even digital cameras that store data on hard drives, removable magnetic media, magneto-optical disks or flash RAM cards, all suffer from the same failures, some of which are:

SYMPTOMS

* Unable to boot
* Virus Attacks
* Inaccessible drives or partitions
* Unable to run or load data
* Data corrupted
* Deleted Partitions
* Formatted Drives
* Accidental deletion of data
* Surface contamination and damage
* Fire and water damage
* Hard drive crashes

You can email us for a free quote: San Diego Data Recovery

NOTE: All branded storage media have a chance of a successful recovery.

Google+ Hangouts adds free voice calls in the US

2011-12-04T12:27:00.000-08:00

Google+ users in the US and Canada will now be able make free voice calls using the social network's Hangouts with Extras portal.

The new feature is specifically designed to make it easier to conference people into Hangout sessions while they're away from a computer.

Users can easily make calls from within a Hangout by clicking the invite users tab and selecting phone. Then just dial the number and you're all set.

The feature can also be used simply to make free phone calls to anyone in North America without a Google Voice account as the company seeks to improve the number of users frequenting the service.

Google Voice users have been able to make free calls to each other for some time.

San Diego Dell Repair

2011-12-03T19:42:00.000-08:00

Do you have a Dell computer, laptop, or server that is not performing as it did when you first purchased it? Do you have a virus or spyware infection that has hi-jacked your internet home page or maybe the infection is requesting that you pay to remove the infections? Below you will find some common infections that cause these symptoms:

No need to panic because Ocean Computers is here to help bring your computer back to good health and we will guarantee our work with a one year warranty at no extra charge. Give us a call @ (619) 251-0365 to get your free consultation today! You can also visit our website at: www.myoceancomputers.com

Could the U.S. Government Start Reading Your Emails?

2011-12-03T11:07:00.001-08:00

Cherie Anderson runs a travel company in southern California, and she’s convinced the federal government is reading her emails. But she’s all right with that.

“I assume it's part of the Patriot Act and I really don't mind,” she says. “I figure I'm probably boring them to death.”

It's likely Anderson is not alone in her concerns that the government may be monitoring what Americans say, write, and read. And now there may be even more to worry about: a newly revealed security research project called PRODIGAL -- the Proactive Discovery of Insider Threats Using Graph Analysis and Learning -- which has been built to scan IMs, texts and emails . . . and can read approximately a quarter billion of them a day.

“Every time someone logs on or off, sends an email or text, touches a file or plugs in a USB key, these records are collected within the organization,” David Bader, a professor at the Georgia Tech School of Computational Science and Engineering and a principal investigator on the project, told FoxNews.com.

PRODIGAL scans those records for behavior -- emails to unusual recipients, certain words cropping up, files transferred from unexpected servers -- that changes over time as an employee "goes rogue." The system was developed at Georgia Tech in conjunction with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Army's secretive research arm that works on everything from flying cars to robotic exoskeletons.

Initially, PRODIGAL will scan only the communications of military volunteers and people who work in federal agencies. But the very existence of such a project is sure to unnerve citizens like Anderson. Is the government reading my emails? Are they already monitoring me?

"Some people say it's one step further toward a police state," said Anthony Howard, a book author and security expert who has consulted for the Department of Homeland Security.

But Bader and other experts are quick to dismiss the idea that PRODIGAL could be used to monitor everyone in America. The scans work only on internal systems, they say -- not across the entire Internet. And the experts say such a project is long overdue: by monitoring for "anomalies" and predicting extreme behavior, catastrophes can be prevented, such as a soldier in good mental health becoming homicidal or a government employee sharing key classified information.

“Today, an analyst may receive tens of thousands of 'anomalies' per day, where an anomaly is an unexplained event,” Bader said.

The new system is designed to aid analysts in processing those anomalies. And it's not alone.

Bader equated the PRODIGAL system to Raytheon SureView, an internal scanning system that looks for suspicious activity and alerts federal agencies about possible threats. Another system is the Einstein project, which was developed after 9/11 and scans government employees for key words and links suspicious activity to National Security Agency databases.

But PRODIGAL scans vastly more data than those systems: as much as a terabyte or more per day, what Georgia Tech described as "massive data sets."

PRODIGAL is part of an existing DARPA security project called Anomaly Detection at Multiple Scales (ADAMS), which was announced earlier this year. Details about how ADAMS works are not widely known; Georgia Tech's recent announcement is one of the first reports to explain how these detection engines work.

According to Bader, PRODIGAL uses complex "graph-processing" algorithms to analyze threats and piece together a jigsaw puzzle of communications. The system then ranks the unusual activity before feeding the most suspicious threats to agents.

Cyber-security expert Joseph Steinberg, CEO of Green Armor Solutions, said ADAMS is unique in that it scans through a massive stream of data. He says the new project, which will take about two years to develop and will cost $9 million, will be more effective at analyzing threats and determining if they are valid.

But the issue is not the scanning technology itself; it’s how the information is interpreted -- and whether it ultimately helps at all, Howard told FoxNews.com.

"Since there is no real data publicly available to substantiate that any of this technology is preventing terrorist attacks or strengthening our borders from within, [we can't] really say definitively that this technology is doing any good," he said.

The challenge, he said, is that criminals and terrorists often use multiple channels of communication, some encrypted -- and know how to avoid existing detection systems.

Nevertheless, PRODIGAL’s ability to scan reams of data is clearly the next step in tracking unusual activity, and it’s guaranteed to raise a red flag for Anderson and others.

"Since people tend to be imperfect, the data captured can easily be mishandled. Where does it end?" Howard said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/03/could-us-government-start-reading-your-emails/#ixzz1fV4Xb6I2

Fallout Continues Over Smartphone Tracking App

2011-12-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

(CNN) -- The Web fallout continued Friday over news that a hidden app could be tracking smartphone users' activity.

Many bloggers and smartphone customers fretted about the privacy issues raised by Carrier IQ, an information-mining app secretly installed on many phones. But at the same time, other tech observers were beginning to say that some of those concerns may have been over the top.

First, a recap: On Monday, researcher and developer Trevor Eckhart posted a 17-minute YouTube video apparently showing how the software -- designed as a diagnostic tool to find and help fix mobile network problems -- runs on his smartphone and logs every keystroke, every text and the full URL of every website he visits.

News of the app's existence on millions of phones had bounced around on tech blogs for a while. But attention skyrocketed this week when Eckhart posted his video.

By Thursday, it had turned into a rapidly developing story in which new information seemed to surface hourly. Mobile carriers and smartphone makers rushed to dispute claims made by Eckhart and others who said they confirmed his findings, explain their use of the app or announce that they once used it but plan to get rid of it.

And Friday morning, the controversy made its way into the courts. A lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Carrier IQ, and phone makers Samsung and HTC, claiming that the app violates customer privacy.

"Given our dependence on smartphones, we rely on the assumption that our personal information is protected from third parties," attorney Steve W. Berman said in a written statement. "Yet, it appears that Carrier IQ has violated this trust."

Berman's firm is representing several customers and is seeking to turn the complaint into a class-action lawsuit.

The potential ramifications obviously had other privacy-minded folks concerned as well.

"A couple of things seem pretty clear," Jay Stanley, a senior privacy and technology analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union, said Friday. "We don't know what the company was storing or accessing or what their clients were storing or accessing, but they seem to at least have the capability to store and access a lot of very personal information."

Many mobile customers seemed to focus their concerns on the fact that the software runs without their knowledge and appears difficult, if not impossible, to uninstall.

For example, on Sprint's community forums, several topics had been created to discuss the issue. And customers weren't happy.

"There's no excuse to knowingly and willingly want to have that kind of invasive software, that potentially puts customers sensitive information at risk, on the phone," one customer wrote. "This software may violate multiple privacy laws, and that alone ought to void our contracts."

Sprint said it uses the app to root out network problems but can't see user activity. Other wireless carriers and smartphone manufacturers also responded. Verizon said it doesn't use the app, and Apple said it has stopped supporting it and plans to eliminate it altogether.

By Thursday morning, some on the Web were trying to put the brakes on the fears, though.

"Okay, folks, before we complete this public lynching, is there any evidence that Carrier IQ actually transmitted inappropriate data?" tweeted Declan McCullagh, a correspondent for tech site CNET.

In a message posted to Pastebin, Dan Rosenberg, an analyst with Virtual Security Research, wrote that some of the fears about Carrier IQ have been overblown.

"After reverse engineering CarrierIQ myself, I have seen no evidence that they are collecting anything more than what they've publicly claimed: anonymized metrics data," he wrote. "There's a big difference between 'look, it does something when I press a key' and 'it's sending all my keystrokes to the carrier!'.'"

"In my opinion, the media has made it more malicious than it really is and I am not concerned about my phone usage at all," wrote Matthew Miller, a columnist with tech site ZDNet. "It sounds to me like the software is designed to BENEFIT consumers and is not being used to track and target you."

But the ACLU's Stanley remains concerned. He cited promotional material on Carrier IQ's on website that notes its ability to track users' activities.

"If you look at their website, we don't know what their clients were buying, but we do know what they were selling," he said. "What they're saying to the media doesn't seem to comport to what they tout on their own website."

Carrier IQ says the core purpose of its tool is to uncover broad trends across a network. Its software can help carriers find out where calls are dropping and why, and zero in on device glitches.

For at least some of those who remain concerned (and there are no doubt many), there may be some hope of at least finding out if the app is running on their phones.

A new app in the Android Market, Voodoo Carrier IQ detector, is designed to help you simply find the kit on your phone if it exists. It's only a day old and not perfect, developers say, but will continue to be tweaked.

About WiFi Security

2011-12-03T10:41:00.000-08:00

Wireless security is the prevention of unauthorized access or damage to computers using wireless networks.

Without properly setting up, a user sets themselves up for certain risks that could be prevented or at least halted. Using even the most basic form of protection is better than nothing. Some forms of wireless protection are: WEP, WPA, and WPA2. Using WEP WEP is one of the least secure forms of security a user can set up their routers with. A network that is secured with WEP has been cracked in 3 minutes by the FBI [1]. WEP is an old IEEE 802.11 standard from 1999 which was outdated in 2003 by WPA or Wi-Fi Protected Access. [[1]] WPA was a quick alternative for those wishing to get away from the problematic WEP security. There are some pieces of hardware out there that cannot support WPA2 without being replaced or having the firmware upgraded. [[2]] WPA2 uses a encryption device which encrypts the network with a 256 bit key. This adds a multitude of security more than WEP does to the wireless network.

Many laptop computers have wireless cards pre-installed. The ability to enter a network while mobile has great benefits. However, wireless networking is prone to some security issues [2]. Crackers have found wireless networks relatively easy to break into, and even use wireless technology to crack into wired networks [3]. As a result, it's very important that enterprises define effective wireless security policies that guard against unauthorized access to important resources.[4] Wireless Intrusion Prevention Systems (WIPS) or Wireless Intrusion Detection Systems (WIDS) are commonly used to enforce wireless security policies.

The risks to users of wireless technology have increased as the service has become more popular. There were relatively few dangers when wireless technology was first introduced. Crackers had not yet had time to latch on to the new technology and wireless was not commonly found in the work place. However, there are a great number of security risks associated with the current wireless protocols and encryption methods, and in the carelessness and ignorance that exists at the user and corporate IT level.[5] Cracking methods have become much more sophisticated and innovative with wireless. Cracking has also become much easier and more accessible with easy-to-use Windows or Linux-based tools being made available on the web at no charge.

Some organizations that have no wireless access points installed do not feel that they need to address wireless security concerns. In-Stat MDR and META Group have estimated that 95% of all corporate laptop computers that were planned to be purchased in 2005 were equipped with wireless. Issues can arise in a supposedly non-wireless organization when a wireless laptop is plugged into the corporate network. A cracker could sit out in the parking lot and gather info from it through laptops and/or other devices as handhelds, or even break in through this wireless card-equipped laptop and gain access to the wired network.

How Microsoft is moving towards a single platform

2011-12-03T00:40:00.000-08:00

Steve Ballmer's usual bombastic delivery caused a flurry of excitement among Microsoft sharehoiders recently.

Ballmer's ability to speak for several minutes without stopping for breath made it sound like he was announcing Windows 8 on smartphones at the annual shareholders meeting and confirming some recent rumours.

The transcript of the event makes it clearer that what's he's talking about it something more complex but also more important (and more realistic).

"Are we in a post-PC era?" asked a shareholder. No, retorted Ballmer; "We are in the Windows era. We were, we are, and we always will be. That's kind of what we get paid to do. We've got broad Windows initiatives driving Windows down to the phone. With Windows 8, you'll see incredible new form factors powered by Windows from tablets, small, large, pens, smaller, bigger, room-sized displays."

But even though the next major version of Windows Phone, Apollo, isn't going to be Windows 8, it is going to bring Windows Phone closer to the Windows platform – as is the future of Xbox.

Common core

Apollo is part of what Microsoft refers to internally as 'common core' as is the next version of Xbox. (Internal Microsoft terminology can be opaque; everything about Windows 8 was known internally as 'modern' so the WinRT frameworks were called MOSH or Modern Shell for a long time.)

That doesn't mean that Windows 8 will run on smartphones or on the new Xbox hardware – even though the ARM version of Windows 8 means that's technically possible.

There are large parts of Windows that simply aren't needed on a phone or an entertainment system (which is what Xbox is evolving into) and would compromise the experience.

On Windows, for compatibility, Microsoft can't throw away everything that desktop apps need – and it doesn't want to; desktop PCs that run complex applications are going to be as important to Windows 8 as ARM tablets, even if the Windows team hasn't yet convinced everyone that they do understand that.

Just cutting Windows down isn't the right approach – and nor is taking the Windows 8 kernel and re-using that on the phone.

Underneath Windows Phone is Windows CE and Windows CE isn't a true real-time operating system; it doesn't need to be, because the part that needs to respond in real time is the phone – the radio stack.

The radio stack is no longer part of the operating system directly; it's a black box that different phone makers can swap in and out.

That's what Nokia will do when it switches to the ST-Ericsson NovaThor platform instead of the Qualcomm Snapdragon that's featured all the Windows Phone handsets so far. Applications and the Windows Phone OS won't care that the radio is different because the integration will have been done in the NovaThor platform.

Even though it's not real time, the Windows CE kernel is probably a better fit for Windows Phone than the Windows 8 kernel; the power management is still better and the kernel timer is better at coping with asynchronous demands. It may be that Microsoft believes that the Windows 8 kernel will be good enough to run Windows Phone – and that it will be done in time for the Windows Phone team to use for Apollo, which we're expecting next autumn.

But there's another option. Thanks to the refactoring program we know as MinWin, the Windows 8 kernel is no longer so closely tied to the Windows platform, making it much easier to make changes at different levels.

MinWin: breaking up Windows

Since 2004, Microsoft has been looking at the layers and components that make up Windows and tidying up the complex mesh of EXEs, DLLs and APIs to make them easier to disentangle.

In 2009, Mark Russinvoch was working on the Windows kernel and he explained MinWin to us like this; "Everything depends on everything. We've got 600 binaries [in Windows]; if we took one of them away, we'd break stuff and we can't even tell you what would break. When we go and change Windows, we end up changing the behaviours of those interconnects at deep levels."

MinWin documents the interconnections so Microsoft can switch out pieces of the operating system without breaking things.

MINWIN: It's not a layer of Windows, it's a refactoring project that helps Windows change seamlessly

As part of Minwin – which is an on-going effort – instead of having a single library that handles different things to do with sound, some of which are at a very low level and others that are far simpler, Windows might have three separate libraries.

For the sake of compatibility, Windows goes on pretending there's one library, but when Microsoft wants to update a feature – or make it work on a different platform - it only has to change one of the libraries.

Thanks to the MinWin changes, instead of putting the Windows 8 kernel under the Windows Phone operating system, Microsoft can take the layers of Windows it wants to use on Windows Phone and put those on top of the Windows CE kernel.

Windows Phone, Windows 8 Metro applications and Xbox already have overlapping technologies and development models.

XNA powers Xbox and Windows Phone games; the XAML that makes Metro apps look good is remarkably similar to the Silverlight that Windows Phone apps are built in – and they both descend from the .NET framework inside Windows.

But the services they work with on each platform are very different. Move the WinRT frameworks to Windows Phone and to Xbox – which is getting Silverlight support somewhere down the line – and you have a common core of technology for apps to use, but you still have the right technical underpinnings for each operating system.

That means Windows Phone isn't Windows on a phone; but it is technologies from Windows on a phone, and technologies from Windows on an Xbox.

If Microsoft gets it right, common core will be the best of both worlds with a single core platform for the company to work on. And even more than competing with the best-selling and popular Windows 7, that's why Windows 8 is such a big bet for Microsoft.

Fast Computer Repair

2011-12-02T21:05:00.001-08:00

Here at Ocean Computers, we have been proudly serving San Diego customers since 2004. Through the years our client base has grown dramatically. This growth has led to the most competitive Onsite San Diego Computer Repair, Data Recovery, Web Development, and Network Administration services in San Diego for residents and business owners alike. We are licensed by the state of California and we also have been accredited by the San Diego County BBB. Our clients range from students to doctors and we offer the best computer repair warranty in San Diego County guaranteed! When you are in need of professional San Diego computer repair, contact Ocean Computers and experience the difference in unmatched customer satisfaction.

Microsoft Security Essentials

2011-12-02T20:57:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Security Essentials is free* and we designed it to be simple to install and easy to use. It runs quietly and efficiently in the background so you don't have to worry about interruptions or making updates.

Highly recommended for those who have no infections at the current time and wish to protect their computer from spyware, malware, and viruses.

About Computer Viruses

2011-12-02T20:56:00.001-08:00

A computer virus is a computer program that can replicate itself^[1] and spread from one computer to another. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability. A true virus can spread from one computer to another (in some form of executable code) when its host is taken to the target computer; for instance because a user sent it over a network or the Internet, or carried it on a removable medium such as a floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB drive.^[2]

Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by another computer.^[3]^[4]

As stated above, the term "computer virus" is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase to include all types of malware, even those that do not have the reproductive ability. Malware includes computer viruses, computer worms, Trojan horses, most rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware and other malicious and unwanted software, including true viruses. Viruses are sometimes confused with worms and Trojan horses, which are technically different. A worm can exploit security vulnerabilities to spread itself automatically to other computers through networks, while a Trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions. Worms and Trojan horses, like viruses, may harm a computer system's data or performance. Some viruses and other malware have symptoms noticeable to the computer user, but many are surreptitious or simply do nothing to call attention to themselves. Some viruses do nothing beyond reproducing themselves.

About Spyware

2011-12-02T20:35:00.000-08:00

Spyware is a type of malware that can be installed on computers, and which collects small pieces of information about users without their knowledge. The presence of spyware is typically hidden from the user, and can be difficult to detect. Typically, spyware is secretly installed on the user's personal computer. Sometimes, however, spywares such as keyloggers are installed by the owner of a shared, corporate, or public computer on purpose in order to secretly monitor other users.

While the term spyware suggests software that secretly monitors the user's computing, the functions of spyware extend well beyond simple monitoring. Spyware programs can collect various types of personal information, such as Internet surfing habits and sites that have been visited, but can also interfere with user control of the computer in other ways, such as installing additional software and redirecting Web browser activity. Spyware is known to change computer settings, resulting in slow connection speeds, different home pages, and/or loss of Internet connection or functionality of other programs. In an attempt to increase the understanding of spyware, a more formal classification of its included software types is provided by the term privacy-invasive software.

In response to the emergence of spyware, a small industry has sprung up dealing in anti-spyware software. Running anti-spyware software has become a widely recognized element of computer security practices for computers, especially those running Microsoft Windows. A number of jurisdictions have passed anti-spyware laws, which usually target any software that is surreptitiously installed to control a user's computer.