There have been some rogue Facebook applications going around, so this is just a warning to be careful of downloading anything for Facebook.

~Jeremy   New egg! ===> 

You probably get some of those emails that urge you to forward it to all your friends, and have subjects like “This is SOOO COOL!!!”.  And at the top of those emails, usually you can see a lot of email addresses.

(Most of the time, much more than that.)

Just think: if one of these people’s PC is infected with a email address spammer, or he/she is a spammer, they might now have 100 emails to spam!  

So, if you have decided to put yourself at risk of (more) spam and forward emails like these, always remember to delete those addresses out of the email.

~Jeremy  

I recently came across Slashdot.org, a news site powered by people’s submissions.  I have to say, with reading this and Comodo’s Forum, I’m becoming super-smart quickly.  :P

~Jeremy 

Recently, some hackers have found a vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Acrobat, versions 9 and earlier.  Adobe says it will release a patch for Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 by March 11. The company also said patches for version 8 of Reader and Acrobat will follow, then finally for version 7.

But during that time, here are some suggestions on how to secure yourself:

• Only open files from trusted sources, even then be cautious as websites and friends’ computers can be hacked.
• Download and install CIS.  Why will this help?  The exploit in PDF’s uses something called a “buffer overflow” attack.  CIS has protection against that.

~Jeremy 

Sorry for not posting in a while. 

Just have a little update: on my first try at ice skating, I slipped and banged the side of my head against the ice….so, as you might imagine, I’m not in the best of spirits.  :)

BTW, anyone know a good, popular accounting software for small businesses?  Just drop a comment.

~Jeremy 

This is a small, portable tool that analyzes your computer (download link below).  It doesn’t remove/fix anything, just gives you a detailed report of your computer.  When it is done, it exports a log/.txt file to the same directory it was run from (is that isn’t possible, it exports to the System32 folder).  The log is called “psc-exam.txt”.

You can then post your log here and ask for it to be reviewed, or send a PM to me and give a link to where you uploaded it.  MediaFire is a good, free file upload site. 

How to PM:

Download Tool.

If you don’t trust me, you can sign-up for an account at Comodo Forums, then download the attached file that the CEO posted.

~Jeremy 

This “Google Ocean” seems neat. 

Getting Your Feet Wet With Google Ocean: First Look in Images:

Google Ocean is a major part of the Google Earth 5 beta update. Now you can dive as deep into the ocean as you could soar high above the Rocky Mountains with Google Earth.

Thanks to Google's partnership with more than 20 different content providers, including the U.S. Navy, NOAA, NASA, the National Geographic and the BBC (to name a few), you can "fly" beneath the ocean to the Titanic or follow sea turtles as they migrate across the sea.

To get started, download Google Earth 5 beta and put a check mark next to the "Oceans" layer in the Google Earth software. Now you're ready to be a desktop Jacques Cousteau.

Go to the big link about the quotes to see more.

~Jeremy  

I found a neat online planetarium from Neave.com.  It uses flash. 

Sorry for the short article but I’m busy with the wiki.

~Jeremy 

Just recently I had discovered Comodo’s Help Wiki.  I have to say, it is out-of-date but, I, yours truly, am alone trying to restore it.  To sum it up: this is a big job.  When it was last updated, it was before CIS was born.  So I have to change things from “CFP3” to “CIS”…plus add antivirus sections, plus a lot more.

I don’t want to be a mod of Comodo Forums (yet :P ), but I would like to be an admin or something on that wiki (would make it a bit easier to update).  But I think I’d have to prove myself before. :)  So I’m working my fingers off by taking screenshots, typing, changing the format to “WikiCode” from HTML (some of the original people wrote in HTML, but “WikiCode” is easier to read), etc.

And this means, I may not update my blog as much for now!  :D

~Jeremy  <=== Ya know, it helps me if you click him.  Even if you close as soon as it loads :) .

COMODO Internet Security 3.8.64263.468 Released! 

What's New in this version?
NEW! COMODO Threatcast - COMODO's community based alerts statistics
NEW! Native Vista Firewall - Improved Firewall with Windows Vista enhancements
NEW! Native Vista HIPS - Improved HIPS compatible with Windows Vista enhancements
NEW! Buffer Overflow Prevention - Defense+ can now detect and prevent one of the most common attacks used by attackers: shellcode injection
NEW! Antivirus Heuristics: The Antivirus engine now includes heuristics scanning capabilities
NEW! Proxy server settings for AV and program updates
IMPROVED! Trusted software vendor list is expanded, capable of detecting thousands of applications generically without any signatures
IMPROVED! Revised AV engine - AV engine scanning and updating speed increased significantly
IMPROVED! File submission engine has been redesigned

Impact of this release for the existing users
Automatic updates for this release will be available for the existing users starting from the next week.  When the automatic updater is used:
* Threatcast will NOT be enabled by default. The users will need to activate this feature manually.
* Existing configurations will be preserved.
If you do not want to wait until the updates are available, you may uninstall the existing version and install this version.

We would like to thank all of our BETA testers whose quality assurance and cooperation made this release possible.

Download locations

32-Bit Setup
URL: http://download.comodo.com/cis/download/setups/CIS_Setup_3.8.64263.468_XP_Vista_x32.exe
Size: 33.7 MB (35,355,400 bytes)
MD5: bafbff2efa37dbbc3a000b1a2d50bbb8
SHA1: 9552557d63ced15ccee1deb3c76db986f00cd0aa

64-Bit Setup
URL: http://download.comodo.com/cis/download/setups/CIS_Setup_3.8.64263.468_XP_Vista_x64.exe
Size: 47.8 MB (50,144,008 bytes)
MD5: b34fe2cab3d9396158714792e0847517
SHA1: 4b3d27ad65633b4f719e911159efe62111c669be

This has been a long awaited release.  Now we just have to wait for the version with the new GUI.  :)

~Jeremy 

Sorry for not posting in awhile.

EtherPad is a free online service which allows you and however many friends to work on a text project at the same time. 

(Video here)

Example of use: I and a few friends are in a small group (about 10 people) that get food from the companies that supply the stores (we have to be in a group, because that company only sells in bulk).  It is much cheaper that way.
We sometimes have a problem: since we send the list via email each person adds to the list of what he/she wants.  And as you might imagine, sometimes someone sends an email the isn’t the latest one, etc.  So EtherPad helps us easily coordinate things like that.

~Jeremy 

As some of you may know, Google likes to collect info about people who use their services.  So,  following my usual policy I look for a alternative to Google Docs.  Zoho is a free alternative to Docs.  Favorably reviewed by some trusted sources, I also like it.

Here are its services:

(I put arrows next to some of the services that Google has too…but there may be more.  I don’t know much about Google.)

Zoho Writer

(This is on your browser - I’m in full-screen mode.)

(Click pics to get bigger views, for most you don’t have to leave the page.)

Writer can export in these formats:

Zoho Sheets

Export:

Zoho Docs

Zoho Docs manages all your files you have stored on Zoho.

There are much more, I just don’t feel like going through all of them.  You have to see for yourself.  :)

~Jeremy 

Creative Docs .NET is a free alternative to Corel Draw (which, BTW, isn’t usually on The Pirate Bay :D) and Adobe Photoshop.

Creative Docs .NET is a vector-based graphic design tool with support for rich text, ideal to quickly write short documents, manuals, posters, illustrations, schemas, plans, flow charts, and much more.

The interface is tailored for high productivity: it does never get in your way. Creative Docs .NET tools are simple, yet powerful. All styles and attributes can be modified interactively with a minimum number of mouse clicks. A color gradient, for instance, can be modified directly by dragging its handles in the document window.

Note: This software is being actively developed.

Creative Docs .NET 2.x is available for free as a full-featured version. It comes with no warranty whatsoever.

 

Yep, I admit it, I haven’t actually tried it as I’m not into images and such.  Just let me add arrows and text to a screenshot, and I’ll be fine.  :)  But the program should be safe, as there are quite a few reliable reviews I found.

~Jeremy  

I wonder if having electricity in the air would be useful, and what side effects it could have…  We have enough danger now with getting shocked, do you think having electricity in the air might shock you too?  :D

(If this means I can soon vacuum without have to use a plug, and it is cheap to do so, Yippee! :) )

Please leave a comment with your thoughts.

~Jeremy 

How to access/enter Motherboard (BIOS).  This is a article that helps you find which key combination your BIOS manufacturer uses to let you enter the BIOS at boot-time.

~Jeremy 

Small alert: If you use Firefox, a new minor update is available. (v. 3.0.6)

~Jeremy 

A few hours ago, about 4 pileated woodpeckers “visited” our house.  I took some pics, but since I just have a cheap, 4MP digital camera and I was shooting out of a window, these photos are very poor quality. (Plus, since the “zoom” on my camera is fuzzy, I shot thru some binoculars :D)

View Full Album

~Jeremy  

protonic.com is a great “Friendly, Fast, Free, and Accurate Computer Technical Support”.  I only had to use it once for a very hard PC-problem, and they were quite helpful (Although neither me, them, or my “IT” friend could find out what was causing the problem.  We solved it by reformatting).  Anyway, if you are in need of some “professional” computer help, that’s a good place to go.

~Jeremy 

Hello everyone!

I have been trying to learn to program in Java for a few months.  I use a compiler called BlueJ, and watch these instructional videos.  The instructor hosts the PDF Textbook, which is free, on his site.  But it is a slow download, so I’m hosting it here:

~Jeremy 

Some people are wanting Windows 7 to release early.  Don’t you know that that was part of the reason for Vista having a rough start?  Anyway, there are a few arguments floating around for an early release such as MS should put more resources into the development.  That is not always a good idea; sometimes having too many people work on something actually is bad (how do I know? 1, the CEO of Comodo has said so; 2, what do you think would happen if you crowd too many people on a project?).

~Jeremy