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April 29, 2009

Speed demon.

Those of us who do a lot of work on the Internet know how nice a faster connection can be. Whether downloading files to use for work, sending E-mail or otherwise, it's quite handy.

Comcast has offered some reasonably fast speeds in my area, but I'm now drooling over the latest announcement from Cablevision. Optimum customers will, within the next month or so, be able to get 101Mb/second connections, the fastest to be offered anywhere nationwide, for $99.99 a month.

The best part? It's uncapped - no download or upload limits to worry about while you're enjoying that massive speed. Comcast, which currently has a download cap of 250GB a month, something I mentioned earlier this year on The Buzz, has a fairly generous limit, while Time Warner recently backtracked on their plans to offer faster high-speed Internet packages because users balked at their putting download caps on their services too.

Not everyone needs this kind of service, nor would need to pay for that kind of plan. Indeed, Cablevision has said they expect light adoption this year. But for those of us who work from home, or need a fast connection for the types of work they do, Cablevision deserves a tip of the hat for bucking the trend of putting limits on Internet connections at the same time they make them faster. Unlimited data at what is an incredible speed is commendable. While I am unfortunately not in a Cablevision market, those readers who are should take a look at this offering if it makes sense.

Posted by Josh on 11:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 9, 2009

Staying secure while online.

If you follow technology, or if you've done a lot of reading lately, you may have heard about Conficker, a worm that at its height infected somewhere between 8 million and 15 million computers. I'm many times the person most of my friends turn to with computer questions, and not only did this topic come up a lot lately, but there was a lot of confusion about how it spread and what it could do.

The worm spread itself using a security hole in Microsoft Windows automatically without a user's involvement. While not initially programmed to do much damage, many people (and media outlets) worried since an April 1 trigger in the software would allow itself to update into something potentially worse, although no one really knew what that would be. Even now, it has the ability to receive updates that could cause bigger problems for computers that are currently infected, whether it be causing damage to computer files or (more likely) becoming a way for the creators to exploit your machine for annoying possibilities like sending spam E-mail by the thousands, making some money in the process.

The coverage in the media put a lot of focus on ways to find out if you had Conficker, from downloading scanners from security software vendors like McAfee or Symantec. One particularly creative soul came up with the Conficker Eye Chart, which is a nice, clean, visual way to know if you're infected.

But while knowing if you have Conficker is good for the "right here, right now" kind of security, it doesn't help with the larger question of staying secure in general. Conficker took advantage of low-hanging fruit - it exploited something that was known, and fixed, in the Windows operating system. In fact, the exploit that was used to infect computers was something that Microsoft offered a patch for in October.

This means that if you're a Windows user and either didn't update the machine yourself, or set up the computer to update it for you on a regular basis through a service called Automatic Update, you've left yourself exposed. If you were infected with Conficker, you're missing at least six months of security updates.

The eye chart I linked above is a good way to see if you're infected. If you are, the sooner you rid yourself of the problem, the better, as it's likely going to dig deeper into your machine with each update the Conficker worm gets. But more importantly, run Windows Update to get the security updates you've missed.

While at it, also check Microsoft Update. Most people have Microsoft Office on their machine, and security updates and bug fixes are released for them too. However, depending on how your machine is set up, you might not be getting those updates. It's worth checking to make sure you're up to date there too.

One note about these two links: the browser version of Windows Update will only load up if you're using the Internet Explorer browser. If you use any other browser, the Microsoft Update link will offer options for updating Windows as well, but works with all browsers.

While in a security-focused mindset, get into the habit of updating popular Web software that you might use as well. An increasing number of other pieces of software will now prompt you to update their software when updates to the software are available. In some, you can manually check for software updates to see if a new version has been released. For instance, in Firefox, you can click the Help Menu and select "Check for Updates."

Some dubious sorts are attempting to trick people into downloading their dangerous software (formally known as malware) by spoofing the look of a software update prompt, as has been seen in fake Flash upgrade prompts on Facebook. To counter the threat, it's time for a smarter solution.

Security vendor Secunia offers a free online or downloadable scanner that will take over from where Windows and Microsoft updates leave off, checking for updates for thousands of other popular pieces of software. Their comprehensive scan will help you find potential security holes in the software you have on your computer and help you find a patch for it. It will also tell you if a piece of software is no longer being updated, which means you're on your own if a new hole is found.

It's a scary thought that 8 to 15 million computers got infected by Conficker - that means at least that many weren't patched, and that's just Windows. Even more people might have some other software that's out of date on their machine. As computers get ever more complex, they become more like a car -- regular maintenance and occasional tune-ups will go a long way to ensure that nothing nefarious happens and that it continues to be a useful vehicle to getting where you need to go.

Have a computer or technology question? E-mail Josh and he'll work to provide an answer for you and other readers of The Buzz.

Posted by Josh on 5:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack