anovelo

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Homepage: http://TechGeekandMore.com


Posts by anovelo

TGM.jpg

Open Letter to all the Visitors of TechGeekandMore…..

Jun 20th

Posted by anovelo in About

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TGM

Hello everyone,

     Thank you for visiting TechGeekandMore.com (TGM). Over that past year and a half, this project has taken a life of its own.  When I 1st started TGM, I figured that it could be a way that I could keep my tech skills sharp, while allowing me to pass helpful information to family, friends, and whomever stumbled across my little ol’ site.  Honestly the fact that I now average about 5000 page views a month still BLOWS MY MIND (OK that may still seem like a small number to some but to me its huge). 

     Since I can remember, as soon as someone found out that I’m a computer guy when shopping or at a party or just out on the street, I would always get the “Oh can I ask you a question”…….  I guess its the same thing if your a doctor, or lawyer, or well you get the idea.  Many of the posts on TGM since the beginning started with someone “asking a question” when I was out and about. 

     As well as running TGM, I too and a constant web surfer, and when I surf, I hate going to sites where you have to search for the story among all the ads or even worse ads in between each paragraph of the story that I’m reading. I always said that I wanted to keep TGM different.  So far TGM shows 1 ad and it is located at the bottom of the main page.  The ad is for iDrive, a very good online backup service that TGM recommends.  TGM is a paid partner/reseller for iDrive, however, we would still recommend it even if we weren’t.

     Now comes the part when I need to ask those of you who visit TGM for help.  I don’t want to make TGM look like all the other sites, filled with ads all over the place, but the costs of running TGM is getting a little high and even though I am a computer “Geek”, in this economy I’m not getting paid (from my real job) like I used to be.  So I’m asking those visitors to TGM that can afford to donate anything at all ($1, $2, $5, $10, or anything at all), if you could please consider helping me and TGM out.  On the top right corner of the site you will see the “Help Support TGM” donate button.  This will lead to the PayPal page for TGM, your donations are secure thru PayPal.  

image      I hope that TechGeekandMore has been able to help resolve your computer issues, or at least educate you so that your tech life is a little easier.  With your help, I hope to be able to continue this. 

Again to all the visitors to Tech Geek and More – Thank You

Alex Novelo – Head of Tech Geek and More 

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Software: ALERT – Critical Adobe Flash Update Released. You need to make sure your system is updated to this version.

Jun 12th

Posted by anovelo in Adobe

No comments

adobe-logo Adobe has released an update to its Flash Player (New Version 10.1) and Adobe AIR software to correct 32 issues that could lead to everything from the application / your computer crashing all the way to someone else (“Bad Guy”) being able to take control of your computer. The bad guys in the past week figured out how to use the vulnerabilities to be able to infect peoples computers, this update corrects those issues.

This Adobe advisory (http://www NULL.adobe NULL.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb10-14 NULL.html) outlines the severity:

Critical (http://www NULL.adobe NULL.com/devnet/security/security_zone/severity_ratings NULL.html) vulnerabilities have been identified in Adobe Flash Player version 10.0.45.2 and earlier. These vulnerabilities could cause the application to crash and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system.

The vulnerabilities in this patch batch affects all major operating systems: Adobe Flash Player 10.0.45.2 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris; Adobe AIR 1.5.3.9130 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh and Linux.

**NOTE THAT THIS ISSUE DOES AFFECT SOFTWARE INSTALLED ON WINDOWS, MAC, AND LINUX.

Here are some things to keep in mind.

- If you have more than 1 browser installed on your computer (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, etc), you MUST check this on each one of the browsers, even if you only use one. Check on any that are installed.

- You need to verify the Adobe Flash Player version number installed on your system, Adobe recommends that users access the About Flash Player page (http://www NULL.adobe NULL.com/products/flash/about/), or right-click on content running in Flash Player and select “About Adobe (or Macromedia) Flash Player” from the menu.

- In addition, check on your installed programs list (Windows Users – Start-> Settings-> Control Panel-> Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features). Check and see that it doesn’t list multiple installs of either Adobe Flash or Adobe AIR.  If it does from that screen highlight –> select uninstall to all but the latest one.

- If you would like to make absolutely sure that all older copies of Adobe Flash are uninstalled or if you are having issues doing the upgrade, go to the Adobe knowledge base page (tn_14157) which is at (LINK) http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/141/tn_14157.html (http://kb2 NULL.adobe NULL.com/cps/141/tn_14157 NULL.html) and download the Adobe Uninstaller.  This will go thru your computer and automatically delete all versions of Adobe Flash.  Then you can just install the latest version.

- The following 2 links are the direct downloads from Adobe for Flash (NOTE that 1 link is for Internet Explorer and the other is for the rest of the Browsers).

http://fpdownload.ad…h_player_ax.exe (http://fpdownload NULL.adobe NULL.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_ax NULL.exe) (IE)
http://fpdownload.ad…lash_player.exe (http://fpdownload NULL.adobe NULL.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player NULL.exe) (All other browsers)

Keeping your computer safe is not just about updating the Operating System and having an Anti-Virus program. These days the bad guys are looking for anyway into your system.  Imagine that when you left your home, you locked all your doors, but left a Window unlocked because the lock was broken.  A bad guy could use that Window to get inside.  So what would you do, replace the lock of course. This issue with software is the computer version of just that situation.

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sprintlogo.jpg

Software: EVO 4G – Qik Video Chat update for your HTC EVO 4G

Jun 11th

Posted by anovelo in Android

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sprintlogo Here is a quick note about the Qik video chat program that comes on the HTC EVO 4G by default.  IT NEEDS AN UPGRADE.  The version that comes with the phone does not work with the 2 camera set up that the EVO uses.  The front facing camera will not work with the system.  If you have an EVO and plan to do video calls, you will need to run this update 1st.  To get the update, go to the Android market place and search for Qik.  Then on the list that you get, look for the version that specifically says that its for the “EVO 4G”.  Once you see it. select it for download and run the install.  That is all there is to correcting this issue.

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EVO: How to improve the battery performance of the EVO 4G (From Sprint)

Jun 11th

Posted by anovelo in Android

No comments

sprintlogo Once of the big questions with the NEW Sprint EVO 4G involves the battery performance. I have had a couple of people tell me that they can get 7 or 8 hours of good use out of the battery, while others have said that its been less than 1 hour of good use before needing to recharge again. 

     I have only had my phone for 1 day**, and so far I got 12 really good hours of use, but I went in and turned off everything I wasn’t using when I 1st got the phone. The following information from Sprint (LINK: http://support.sprint.com/support/article/Improve_battery_performance_on_your_HTC_EVO_4G/case-wh164052-20100601-130442?&INTNAV=SU:DP:HDIA (http://support NULL.sprint NULL.com/support/article/Improve_battery_performance_on_your_HTC_EVO_4G/case-wh164052-20100601-130442?&INTNAV=SU:DP:HDIA)) is what I used as a guide to what to turn off. 

IMPROVE BATTERY PERFORMANCE ON YOUR HTC EVO 4G

Last Updated: Jun 09, 2010

Battery performance depends on many factors, including network configuration, signal strength, the temperature of the environment in which you operate your phone, the features and/or settings you select and use, items attached to connecting ports, and your usage patterns for voice, data and other programs.

There are several differences between other phones and your new HTC EVO™ 4G that can impact your battery life:

  • HTC EVO has more radios to power (3G, 4G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS)
  • HTC EVO has a larger screen than most typical feature phones
  • HTC EVO has more capabilities than most typical feature phones
    • Management of multiple email accounts and syncing
    • Wi-Fi access point
    • Wi-Fi Router capability
    • 4G data
    • GPS
    • Access to several 3rd party applications through the Market
    • Applications and Processes running in the background

Because of all these new wonderful capabilities and features, it is up to you to manage your battery life experience. Here’s how!

Multiple radios

The multiple radios use battery life even when you are not using them. To improve battery life, turn off your Bluetooth, GPS, 4G, Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi hotspot if you are not using them.

Preloaded widgets are available for your Home screen to conveniently monitor use of radios:

  • Power Control Widget – allows you to see radios that are ON and OFF
    • Widget > Power Control
  • Individual Widgets – available for Airplane Mode, Bluetooth, GPS, Mobile Network, Wi-Fi, 4G, Hotspot
    • Widget > Settings and select what you want to monitor
  • Running Services Widget – can help you identify services that are running that you no longer need that could be ended to save battery life
    • Shortcut > Settings > Running Services Widget

Live Wallpaper and backlight settings

Live Wallpaper uses significantly more battery than standard wallpapers when your screen is ON

  • Ambient Light Sensor – controls backlight brightness based on your ambient lighting condition
    • Settings > Sound and Display > Brightness
  • Manual Control – You can use your Power Control Widget to easily adjust your backlight intensity with a simple touch.

Email Applications Settings

  • Bottom line, email synchronization settings can have significant impact to battery life and the ideal settings are going to vary by person. Try different configurations that achieve the best compromise between convenience and battery life.
  • Generally, less frequent email syncing equals better battery life
  • Shorter polling frequencies (5 minute, 10 minute, 15 minute) can actually be worse for your battery life than As Items Arrive, especially if you do not have high volumes of email.
  • Email settings allow you to set up peak and off-peak hours for email sync on each email account
    • Pop Account – Mail > Menu > More > Settings > Send & Receive > Set Download Frequency
    • Exchange Account – Mail > Menu > More > Settings > Send & Receive > Schedule
    • Manual Sync – allows you to receive emails only when you choose to; this can be optimal for battery life if you don’t necessarily need emails as quickly as they arrive. Sync by selecting Menu > Refresh

Preloaded Applications

There are several preloaded applications which update based on frequency settings:

  • Stocks
  • Weather
  • News
  • Peep
  • Flickr
  • Facebook

These applications have a settings menu that typically can be accessed by using the Menu button while you are in the application. In the settings menu there is an item called Update Schedule

(Menu > Settings > Update Schedule; this may slightly vary from App to App).

In general, the less frequently you allow these applications to update, the better your battery life. If you find there are applications you don’t use at all, for the best battery life experience, configure the application to either not sync at all or to sync at the lowest frequency. You can also end the application or service by going to the Running Services Widget mentioned above.

Google Talk

When you sign up for the Google Market or Gmail with your Gmail account information, you are also signed in to the Google Talk instant messaging application. The Talk application tracks the presence of your Google Talk contacts in order to let you know who is available to instant message. Each presence change uses power, even if you do not have the Talk application open.

If you do not use Talk on your device or do not mind if it is only operating when you actually have the application open, then you can eliminate this extra battery consumption:

  1. Press Menu then tap All apps > Talk > Menu > More > Settings
  2. Uncheck the automatically sign in box.
  3. Make sure you exit the application by going to Menu > More > and selecting Sign Out
  4. In order to again receive Instant Messages through the Talk application, all you’ll need to do is open the Talk application again and it will automatically sign you in.

Note: Make sure you always exit the application by selecting Sign Out to reduce battery consumption. Exiting the application by use of the back or home keys will not sign you out and battery life will not be improved.

4G

The 4G radio should only be turned on when the improved network speed is required for an application, such as YouTube, Web Browsing or Sprint Mobile Hotspot. When not in use, it’s important to use the built-in 4G widget to turn the 4G radio OFF.

If you have your 4G radio ON, but are no longer in 4G coverage, then your device will be scanning in an attempt to re-acquire the 4G network. Your battery can be significantly drained by scanning, so if you know you will be out of 4G coverage for an extended period of time or if you are not acquiring a 4G signal as indicated in the task bar, it is important to turn your 4G radio OFF.

Even when in 4G markets, particularly when mobile, you may be going in and out of 4G coverage. If you notice that you do not have a 4G signal at any point in time, turning off the 4G radio will save you significant battery life. Simply turn it back on to check for 4G coverage when you are back in 4G coverage.

To check for the latest 4G coverage in your area, click here (http://shop NULL.sprint NULL.com/en/stores/popups/4G_coverage_popup NULL.shtml).

3rd-Party Applications

Be especially cautious with all 3rd-party applications that you download from the Android Market. Often times these applications have not been designed with battery life in mind. Many of these applications significantly impact your battery life and quite often they remain running even when you exit the application. It’s important for you to understand the behavior of all the applications you download and to:

  • Learn how to use the running services application or other 3rd-party task managers to identify applications that are still running even when not in use and to end applications that are still running but no longer needed
  • Know how to close the application so that it does not continue running
  • If the applications synchronize data, make sure you optimize the synchronization settings for improved battery life

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windows_7.jpg

Software: Hidden and Additional Themes for Windows 7

Jun 6th

Posted by anovelo in How-To

No comments

windows_7 

     One of the nice cosmetic features in Windows 7 is the great variety of themes that you can select from to change the appearance of your computer system.  I had not written this post earlier because somehow I seriously though that most people were aware of all their options.  However, after a recent road trip (with the W7 laptop) where I kept getting asked “where did you get those backgrounds for your computer”, I suddenly understood that their are a lot of people who just don’t know about the additional cosmetic changes you can make to your Windows 7 pc.  So with that being said, here is a simple way that you can add or change the look of your Windows 7 pc. 

For those who still aren’t sure here is a short video from Microsoft explaining “What is a theme” – (LINK)http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/what-is-a-theme (http://windows NULL.microsoft NULL.com/en-us/windows7/what-is-a-theme)

     Microsoft has always offered what they refer to as themes for Windows, to all the user to change the appearance of their system. In Windows 7, Microsoft has a 3 different options for themes, 2 of which may not be well known.  Everyone that has installed Windows 7 should be familiar with the personalization screen that you can find in Control Panel (Start Menu Button –> Control Panel)

image

When you click on Personalization, you get the following screen (This is the USA version, if you selected a different country during install of Windows 7 the pictures themselves may be a little different) where you can select the theme to use for your computer (Theme includes pictures –usually 5 or 6 in a group- plus color schemes and sounds).  In addition, by selecting at the bottom you can select how often the background changes and if you want a specific color scheme or sound and what screen saver to go along with your theme. 

image 

     Now this post could end right here but that wouldn’t cover the 2 other ways that you can add to your choices in the personalization screen. 

Additional Themes Option #1 – The Hidden ones already on your pc

     So lets start with the option that is already on your computer but is hidden because they are considered to be for other regions or locations. (NOTE: you will need to have hidden files and folders showing in Windows. You can change that setting in control panel –> folder options –> View tab –> put a bubble next to “Show hidden files, folders, and drives)

1) Click on Start and then in the search box type the following

- C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT and press the Enter key

- you will see the following window (below), just click on the folder called MCT

image

2) The window that opens will show you the additional themes for Windows 7 for other regions or locations (Depending on the version of Windows 7 your choices may be a little different than the ones shown below).  In my copy of Windows I get themes additional themes from Australia, Canada, U.K, and South Africa (In addition to the US theme which is already showing).

image

- Once you are at the MCT folder open the theme for the country you like, and then you can either select the folder with the country name where you will see the pictures used in the theme or the theme folder itself to install the theme.

.image

- If you select the folder with the pictures (below) you can right click on a picture you like and then select “Set as desktop background. (This will not make it into a changing theme, it will give you just that picture as your background. )

image

- If you choose to install the entire theme, once you have selected the Theme folder, double click on the file name.theme (in this example GB.theme). That will install the entire theme.

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3) Once you have done that you can go back to your personalization folder in control panel and select the newly added themes. Once a theme is on your Personalization window, its just a matter of clicking on it to change between themes.

image 

Additional Themes Option #2 –

Other than locating hidden Windows 7 themes in your computer, you can also download several windows 7 themes form the Microsoft Website.

Visit the Windows 7 Personalization page (LINK) http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/personalize (http://windows NULL.microsoft NULL.com/en-us/windows/downloads/personalize)

image

- Here you will find a large selection of themes you can add to your Windows 7 install.  Its also very simple and best of all its FREE!!!!

All you need to do is scroll down the page until you find a theme that interests you, you will see a download button just under that them.

image

- Click on download, it will be followed by a screen that will ask you if you want to Open or Save.  If you wish to save the themes for later just select save (and remember where you saved it to). If you just want to install select open and it will automatically install the theme on the computer for you. (NOTE: The theme will also become your default theme, so you will need to go back to the personalization folder to change it to something else.)

image

Themes take up a minimal space on a hard drive so don’t be afraid to download and try a few of these out. 

And with that you have another simple way of changing the look of your Windows 7 pc.  “I’m glad Windows 7 was my idea”.  OK it wasn’t but I have always wanted to be in one of those commercials so that I could say that.

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Facebook: ALERT – New Malware attack using Facebook. DONT CLICK ON “Most Hilarious Video Ever” wall posts.

May 31st

Posted by anovelo in Alerts

No comments

facebook It seems that recently Facebook has be at the center of many web issues.  Unfortunately, this is a trend that seem to continue as now we have a new Facebook attack that has the goal of stealing your credentials (there for taking over your account) in addition to downloading malware on your pc.  If you see any wall post about the “Most Hilarious Video Ever”, DO NOT CLICK on it.  If its on your own wall delete the post from your wall, if you have already clicked on the link (Fallen for the post), you need to immediately go to your profile and change your password information. 

The following information comes from the WEBSENSE blog (LINK: http://community.websense.com/blogs/securitylabs/ (http://community NULL.websense NULL.com/blogs/securitylabs/)) concerning this new FB attack, included below is a video from websense showing how the attack happens.

Most Hilarious Video attack on Facebook (http://community NULL.websense NULL.com/blogs/securitylabs/archive/2010/05/28/most-hilarious-video-attack-on-facebook NULL.aspx)

Posted: 28 May 2010 09:11 PM

Attacks on Facebook during weekends are unfortunately becoming a trend. For the third weekend in a row users on Facebook are bombarded with messages on their walls talking about Distracting Beach Babes (http://community NULL.websense NULL.com/blogs/securitylabs/archive/2010/05/22/warning-for-quot-distracting-beach-babes-quot-on-facebook NULL.aspx), Sexiest Video Ever (http://community NULL.websense NULL.com/blogs/securitylabs/archive/2010/05/15/sexiest-video-ever-on-facebook NULL.aspx) or this latest attack which supposedly is the “Most Hilarious Video ever” shown in the screen shot below.

(http://community NULL.websense NULL.com/cfs-file NULL.ashx/__key/CommunityServer NULL.Blogs NULL.Components NULL.WeblogFiles/securitylabs/1106 NULL.facebook_5F00_hilarious_5F00_1 NULL.png)

We predicted that this attack would happen again and unfortunately we were right.

This attack is different from previous weekends as not only do the attackers try to steal your Facebook credentials, what happens after that depends on which country you connect from. Once you click on the link to view the video you are taken to a fake Facebook login page where you are tricked into entering your credentials. The login page look like the real thing except of course if you look at the address bar you can see that you’re not on facebook.com. But users can easily be tricked into thinking that they temporarily were logged out of Facebook and to continue they have to login.

(http://community NULL.websense NULL.com/cfs-file NULL.ashx/__key/CommunityServer NULL.Blogs NULL.Components NULL.WeblogFiles/securitylabs/4478 NULL.facebook_5F00_hilarious_5F00_4 NULL.png)

Regardless of what you enter in the login form you are then taken to a page on the real Facebook site that asks you to allow the application to access your profile. If you allow that you’re taken to a page saying that you need to upload your FLV Player to view the video. Up until this point it’s similar to how the two previous attacks have worked, except that this new one also has the phishing component. However, what happens now depends on which country you are connecting from.

If you are coming from a US IP address you are prompted to download the FLV Player, which is detected by 35% of antivirus engines (http://www NULL.virustotal NULL.com/analisis/ba220931f0993b752cc9cc25d449904646528fee138ace928f027bb643f3b61e-1275104977), as can be seen in the screen shot:

(http://community NULL.websense NULL.com/cfs-file NULL.ashx/__key/CommunityServer NULL.Blogs NULL.Components NULL.WeblogFiles/securitylabs/3755 NULL.facebook_5F00_hilarious_5F00_2 NULL.png) (http://community NULL.websense NULL.com/cfs-file NULL.ashx/__key/CommunityServer NULL.Blogs NULL.Components NULL.WeblogFiles/securitylabs/0842 NULL.facebook_5F00_hilarious_5F00_2 NULL.png)

However, if you’re coming from a UK IP address you’re taken to a quiz where they have to answer 10 questions.

(http://community NULL.websense NULL.com/cfs-file NULL.ashx/__key/CommunityServer NULL.Blogs NULL.Components NULL.WeblogFiles/securitylabs/4617 NULL.facebook_5F00_hilarious_5F00_3 NULL.png)

Once completed the user then gets the chance to win an iPad! All they have to do is to fill in their address. So instead of tricking the user into installing a malicious file, this time they’re after your information in addition to your Facebook credentials from the fake login page.

(http://community NULL.websense NULL.com/cfs-file NULL.ashx/__key/CommunityServer NULL.Blogs NULL.Components NULL.WeblogFiles/securitylabs/8512 NULL.facebook_5F00_hilarious_5F00_5 NULL.png)

It’s very likely that the behavior is different than the two examples we have described depending on which country you connect from. In our testing we only had the ability to test this attack from the US and UK but regardless of where you are connecting from you shouldn’t click on the fake video and never, ever give you Facebook username and password to a website that is not facebook.com. We also recommend you to install Defensio, our free security app for Facebook that will protect your wall from posts like this. You can get it from http://defensio.com (http://defensio NULL.com)

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