EVERYBODY: Be careful about 'free' software that schools and government agencies are handing out - most are handing it out for free: ComputerCOP.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/09/computercop-dangerous-internet-safety-software-hundreds-police-agencies
This stuff, if installed, will literally record every single thing you type (and that means passwords and usernames), and send them UNENCRYPTED across the internet to who-knows where.
There are several agencies in many states that are sending this out. Don't fall for it. If somebody offers this to you for free - take it - then BURN THE DISC. Agencies are paying for it, so make them spend their money on nothing.
The software is supposed to protect kids, but it actually endangers them to exposing activities, login information, etc. And, if I were to be an attacker, I could see all this EXTREMELY EASILY with nothing more than a wi-fi enabled laptop.
Here is a link to a list of agencies in many states that have been known to either buy many copies, or even to distribute them.
https://www.eff.org/pages/whos-giving-out-computercop
Showing posts with label Monday's Beginners. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Monday's Beginners. Show all posts
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Monday, December 10, 2012
Beginner Monday–More Terminology
So there’s a lot of users in the workforce that confuse terminology, and inadvertently say the wrong thing to their IT support. This post is about correcting some of those misperceptions. That way, when you talk with your Tech Support, you can say the right things (hopefully) and get them on the right path. Because if you say server, and you mean wi-fi, you can send your tech support down the wrong path (and thus take a lot longer to fix your issue).
1. Network – This is any setup that allows one computer to talk with another. Any method that allows two computers to interact is a network. There are a lot of types of network, but there are two categories that most users care about: wired (or LAN), and wireless (or WI-FI). More on these terms later.
2. Server – This refers to an actual machine type, called a server. It has a special operating system. There are three versions, Windows Server, Linux Server (which has several sub-versions, called distros), and Unix Server. Some applications are accessed on a server. Some network items are done from servers – such as your account and relevant password, anything done by Citrix, emails, websites, and much more.
3. LAN/Wired network – This is when you plug a network cable into your laptop/desktop/netbook. It uses a special type of cable, the most prolific of which is known as an “ethernet” cable, or RJ-45. It looks like a phone plug, but larger.
4. Wireless/Wi-fi – This is a huge up-and-coming technology. Like anything else in computers, there are several types. But for simplicity’s sake, we’ll leave it in general terms, and just call it “wireless”. There’s been some misconception about wireless – it only refers to networking, nothing else. For some reason, a lot of people think that it refers to wireless power (thus no need for a charging cable), which is absurd.
Wireless networking requires two items: a wireless router or wireless access point, and a wireless-capable device. The device is usually a tablet, cell phone or laptop. The “wireless” is only between these two items. Some confusion is people thinking the router didn’t need to be plugged into the wall. There still need to be power and network cables between the router/AP and the wall; just not between the router/AP and the laptop/device.
The general range of wireless is a couple of hundred feet if you’re really crazy lucky. House walls and lots of power lines and metal construction can interfere with signal. Most of the time is pushing it after 50 feet in real-world conditions.
5. Bluetooth – this is a type of wireless that requires a special mention here. It’s a type of radio signal (similar to your car radio), but with a very short range; about 35 feet. It has to be “paired” with devices, so the bluetooth-capable device has to have a passcode to connect. The most common use of bluetooth technology is between a cell phone and headphones. Though, it can be used between a computer and other devices: printers, speakers, docking stations, keyboards, mice, and even between a computer and a cell phone or another computer.
6. Internet – This is the network of all networks. It is a network of networks. Connecting to anything beyond your own building/house/structure is almost certainly going to the Internet before it gets to the destination. The Internet carries the signal from computer to websites or other buildings/cities/countries.
7. Intranet – This is an internal network, meaning it’s only accessible if you’re connected to the same network as the other device (the internet doesn’t count, as it’s not one network, it’s millions of networks). Some portions of a company’s network can only be asked if you’re on the same network; some websites, email, etc. If your intranet is not available, that doesn’t necessarily mean that your internet is down. The reverse is also the case; just because the internet is down, doesn’t mean your intranet is not working. If both are not working, then it’s a local network issue, or a problem with your PC not connecting.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Monday Beginners: What is a Browser?
Many people confuse “internet” and “browser”. In fact, many business users of computers seem to not know the term, “browser”. As a helpdesk analyst, I would frequently ask users to open their browser, and they’d have no idea what I was talking about. Once I finally explained it to them, they almost invariably respond with “Oh, you mean open the ‘Internet’!”.
No. I said browser, and I meant browser. Today’s post is dedicated to answering that distinction.
The Internet
The Internet is a collective term for all things online, across the world. Wikipedia defines it as follows:
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite <snip> It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope <snip>. The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email.
(I’ve snipped a couple of points because those parts don’t contribute to this discussion)
So, let’s take the above cited paragraph, and make a few key notes:
- It is a global system, meaning it’s not just your home network, and it’s not your company’s network.
- It uses the Internet Protocol (or, IP) suite – this is the system it uses as a sort of “address” for computers and networks. It’s like a street address for your computer and/or network.
- It is an extensive range of information resources and services – it is NOT just email, or just Google, or just a place to download illegal music and movies. It is NOT the World Wide Web. It is ALL of these, and much, much more.
The Internet uses a variety of methods, but in short, it is what was noted above; a network of networks. Your computer and router and/or modem at home is a network, connected to the Internet. Your company’s system is probably a network. All of these are part of the Internet. The Internet is everything “online” that goes beyond the building in which you’re sitting/working.
The Browser
So, then, what is a browser?
A browser is a program, a tool that users and technicians alike use to view the World Wide Web (www) and Intranets alike (more on the difference between intranets and the Internet in a later post). The browser itself is not the Internet, but it is how a person views the Internet.
If a person were to look at a web page in its raw form, it would be mostly unintelligible to all except the geekiest of geeks:
1:
2: <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
3: <html lang="en" dir="ltr" class="client-nojs" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
4: <head>
5: <title>Internet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</title>
6: <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
7: <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
8: <meta name="generator" content="MediaWiki 1.20wmf10" />
9: <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="//en.wikipedia.org/apple-touch-icon.png" />
10: <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico" />
11: <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/w/opensearch_desc.php" title="Wikipedia (en)" />
12: <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=rsd" />
13: <link rel="copyright" href="//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/" />
14: <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Wikipedia Atom feed" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&feed=atom" />
All that code, and NONE of that actually shows anything on the screen yet (that’s only about 5% of the Wikipedia page I quoted above). But it is code for your browser to process and do different things with it. Some of that code allows it to show up better when searching for the page. Some changes how the page looks on the screen. Some simply point to other parts that process portions of the website.
What to take away from this, however, when a technician or analyst asks you to open the browser, they don’t necessarily mean “the Internet”. They mean the browser. The reasons for the distinction vary, but it is important for an end user to understand and apply the difference.
Types of Browsers In Use Today
Internet Explorer
This is by far the most common browser used today. Why? Because it come standard on all forms of Windows since 1995. And most people don’t change their browser if they’ve already got one that works.
Internet Explorer’s (IE) icon looks like this:
Safari
This is the most common browser in use by Mac users. Like Internet Explorer in use for Windows computers, Safari comes standard with Macs.
Safari’s icon looks like this:
Mozilla Firefox
Also just referred to as “Firefox”, this is probably the 2nd-most used browser in the world today. It is highly customizable, very effective, and free. It is also included in many distributions of Linux operating systems.
Firefox’s icon looks like this:
Opera
A growing browser, this is another free alternative to Internet Explorer and is also available on Linux and Mac computers, as well as Windows.
Opera’s icon looks like this:
Google Chrome
My current choice in browsers. Available for most all major operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, and even some mobile platforms). It is fast, customizable, and like all the others – Free.
Chrome’s icon looks like this:
There are hundreds of other browser options in the world today, each can be downloaded from the Internet. Feel to try them. So far, no browser worth using has ever cost money to download, so feel free to download, install and try them out! The only one you can’t uninstall is Internet Explorer (And even that can mostly be removed, but I won’t show you how…yet).
If you have any comments or questions, comment on this page, or email me at jakcrockblc+blog@gmail.com.
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