It seems that the world is going crazy; everyone wants everyone else’s information.  Some companies are going to great lengths to protect their data.  Laptops have gone missing or stolen with tons of important data on them, copy machines have latent images on the hard drives that can contain vital or important private information on them.  So what can be done about all this?  Some companies, including my own, have started encrypting hard drives.  This is nothing new as types of encryption have been around for thousands of years (ever watch an Indiana Jones movie?), but it seems as soon as something makes the news, the purchasing departments or C level staff finally listens to IT.  Read more…

As our world becomes more digital and the number of “personal” interactions with other people declines, we rely more on email and texting than phone conversations.  There are a few drawbacks to this and I can bet that you have found yourself on one end or the other.  As our interactions move more to email, we have to realize that these interactions are done without understanding inflections in voice and tone. It is becoming more common to misunderstand emails based on this and our responses may be out of line, and possibly detrimental to our career or relationships. Read more…

My Windows woes continue.  This time around, I have been trying to upgrade my Laptop running Windows Vista to Windows 7 Professional.  After initiating the upgrade process it would stall at 62% and give no indication as to what would cause the issue.  Well, after a bunch of research and much less hair, I have an answer for you.  Read more…

As you may have read, I am a fan of Microsoft Security Essentials.  Prior to MSE, I had been using Microsoft OneCare on almost all of my machines, and in case you didn’t know; Microsoft is no longer supporting the product.  Instead, they released MSE to replace it.  With that said, my subscription was about to expire.  I figured it was time to uninstall OneCare on my HTPC and install MSE in its place.  In the immortal words of Biz Markie “I didn’t realize I was in for such an event”.  The event was an error… error code: 0×80070643 to be exact.  Unfortunately, I didn’t find much help on the net but I did find a solution that worked for me. Read more…

It was a dark and stormy night, May 5th; it was intense, my dog was hiding in the bathtub, the wind was blowing like a child with a new kazoo, the rain was coming down in sheets (11 x 17), and my PC was left to fend for itself.  Suddenly, the ground shook and my home felt epileptic.  The phone rings, the same quake is hitting China, the U.K, Japan, Canada… this is a worldwide earthquake? This wasn’t a typical earthquake, this was a digital earthquake; at least that’s how Matousec.com describes it.  They named it KHOBE! Read more…

This is a subject that can be attacked a few different ways.  There are many reasons why people want to log into Windows Automatically and the ways to do it are just as various.  For my purposes, logging into windows automatically is an absolute must for my HTPC’s.  The last thing I want to do is try to spell out my password using an IMON remote! Read more…

In the computing world, it can be dizzying trying to pick the right software for our needs.  Everyone knows we need to have anti virus software loaded on our Windows work stations but trying to find the right one out of hundreds can be daunting to say the least.  Luckily for us, some companies offer free alternatives that offer some of the features we are looking for.  Once in a while, we actually come across a piece of software, at no cost, that works the way we would hope it works.  Enter Microsoft Security Essentials, a Virus, Malware, and Spyware software package at NO COST! Read more…