the mind of one Omega Ra

My Windows 8/RT app is taking a little bit longer than I expected. Weird little issues are cropping up during certification. So hopefully it will go through this time, but we’ll see. Again, it is nothing special, just an app so you can follow my blog, but it does have a live tile and is easy to navigate. So I will post again when it definitely hits the store. Until then Adios.

This is a blog post I made on my other site http://www.metuchenit.com and thought I would put it here. I know I had this before, but I had to rebuild me site

From turning on a firewall to having a strong password there are a few simple things anyone can do to make their computer more secure. First let’s talk about passwords.

Everyone knows that they need a password to protect their login, but what most people consider a good password is anything but. If you are using a common word or string of numbers, that is not good at all. Most people want to make the password easy to remember, so they make it their kids name or a birthday. These are the worst type of password as they have a direct connection to you and can easily be figured out. What you want to do is make the password as random as possible. It should be at least 8 characters long and have a mix of lowercase, uppercase, numbers and special characters. But remember 8 should be the minimum, the longer the better. One thing you can do is replace letters with numbers, so the password can look sort of like a word, or purposely misspell words, for example; 3x@mP73z, that could be read as Examples. The 3 is a backward E the @ is an a, and use a z instead of an s at the end. This makes it a little easier to remember for the individual who’s password it is, but harder to crack as it has a nice mix of characters. Another thing to consider is to make it a string of words instead of just a single word. So for examples you could make “Thisisanexample” ThI5iS@n3XaMPl3. By making it multiple words strung together is makes it harder for a program to figure it out by just using every word in the dictionary. This is only one example of course, feel free to get creative, but remember try to keep it unrelated to you and as random as possible, the weirder it looks the harder it is to crack.

One of the next important things to securing your computer is Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware. There are many different programs out there that you can choose, and most cost money. But why pay for something that you can get for free. I always install two programs that take care of all my needs as far as Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware. My anti-virus program of choice is Microsoft Security Essentials a free program from Microsoft that is a small quick install, doesn’t use a lot of system resources and is very effective, plus it gets updated automatically through Windows Update, which is built into Windows. As for Anti-Malware, I use Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, again a fast small software that is free that can find things that no other software seems to find. I love this program and use it on every computer I have, there is even a paid version that has some upgrades that some people may want, but the free scanner works amazingly well on its own.

There are two more things I want to talk about briefly, your firewall and wireless network security. These are to very simple things to implement and both have a big impact on security. Turning on the firewall that is built into windows is a simple matter of going to Start>Control Panel>Windows Firewall and clicking on. A firewall monitors the incoming and outgoing traffic through the network and determines if it should be there, so it can find malicious programs trying to send out your keystrokes (which include passwords) to a nefarious person. So obviously you want this option turned on. And for router security, when you set the router up it probably turned it on for you, but if not, log into the router and look for wireless security settings. Turn on WPA2 with TKIP/AES encryption. That is the strongest wireless security there is currently and make sure you make a strong password for your network. This will prevent anyone within wireless range from connecting to your network and either snooping around in your files or just using your bandwidth and slowing your connection down.

Doing these basic steps will put you a long way toward having a more secure pc and home network, will it make it 100% secure? No. There is no such thing as a 100% secure network, but this will make it hard enough for a person to get through that they are unlikely to bother trying. Plus it will help keep viruses out of your system and make things run smoothly as well.

So, I caved and decided to switch to At&t to get the Samsung Focus. I have had it since Sunday and must say that I am loving it every bit as much as I thought I would.

This phone is a work of art. That being said, I wanted the NoDo update. So I went to the trusty XDA site and found the now well known method using a VPN yo Hungary. All went smoothly and I am now enjoying my Focus with improved market search and faster loading. Copy and paste is a non-issue for me, but I am glad it is there all the same.

I have also installed a 32GB SD card into the phone to see how all things SD card related are going. The initial install of the card was fine, I just had to do the “three fingered salute” format for it to be recognized. I know that for the lost part issues don’t arise until there is a large amount of info on the card. So in that vein I went to sync 20GB of music to my phone last night and left it until this morning. Here is where the issues pop up. When I awoke this morning I find an error code up on the screen. C000D124D to be precise. Only about 4GB synced to my phone, and now with it plugged in via USB I can’t seem to sync at all, I just get this error. Looking it up online mentions reinstalling Zune, so I tried that yo no avail. Unfortunately, I then had to head out the door to work (where I am writing this) and was not able to further troubleshoot. I am however able to manually drag and drop music to the phone while plugged in. So it is only a syncing issue while wired up, from what I understand (though I haven’t tested it yet) the wireless sync option still works.

On XDA there are a few other members reporting similar results with the Focus + SD card, so those who are considering this option (SD card that is) you might want to take this into account before buying the card.

Other than this foible, I am truly enjoying my Samsung Focus immensely and am having a great time playing a few choice games and showing it off to family and friends. I will continue posting with my thoughts as things develop and more updates and info become available. Perhaps I will even rate a few games and/or apps, we’ll see. Until then, good day my friends and have a great time.

Ra

December 24th Christmas Eve and also a dear friends Birthday. The Shopping is done, the presents are wrapped, it is all down to having a lovely dinner and making sure the birthday goes well.

The holidays are a rough time, always feeling like there is something else that needs to be done, something else that needs to be bought, wrapped, or handled in some way. We feel like we never get a break and it can be very stressful. But when things like this happen we have to remember that it isn’t really all about the presents, it is about being with those we love and enjoying the time together, reminiscing and just enjoying each others company.

So when the world and the season start to get you down, just stop and take a deep breath and remember all is well and that it isn’t the end of the world if the gifts don’t get wrapped, or even bought. The world will continue to revolve.

Happy Holidays to all and Have a safe and prosperous New Year.