The Tech Info Blog

The US government is gradually developing the capability to address the gigantic threat that is now hanging over the entire world, the threat of a state sponsored cyber attack. An attack by a state such as Russian Federation, People’s Republic of China, even Iran, are capable of knocking out key infrastruture that supports our daily lives.  Some potential targets could be the water supply, the power grid, the banking and financial trading system, strategic military assets. and much much more. At the core of this vulnerability is the interconnectivity of today’s modern computer networks that make these systems operate.

While the Department of Defense set up a whole command aimed at both defensive and offensive exploitation of computer networks and the FBI has a task force dedicated to hunting down cyber criminals. the National Security Agency has begun something that could lay the foundation for a national defense infrastructure of strategic national computer networks. According to the Wall Street Journal, the NSA has awarded a project, Perfect Citizen, estimated at $100 million only for the initial phase to Raytheon, a key defense contractor, to install highly classified sensors at important computer networks throughout the country.  These sensors will be responsible for both obtaining information on possible cyber attacks and providing timely information in order to prevent damage to key US infrastructure sites, both government and private.

This is but a first step in what looks like a systematic approach to a wider plan in protecting not only our national interests, but our national security. Now that the government is developing the technical structure and methodology on protecting our key networks, the next question that is surely floating inside the halls of power in Washington is what is considered an cyber attack that requires a response? Also, they need to figure out how would such a response would look like?

Finally, while the NSA is a long way from protecting small and medium sized businesses, we need to protect ourselves. Managed Host Based Security service and Managed Services for computer networks is already being done for thousands of companies and could reduce the risk of viruses, malware, data theaft, unauthorized network penetration, and cyber attack to a very low threat level.

Do you need a reliable and steady internet connection? Are you running your office on Voice Over IP (VOIP) phones? Then you have to have a stable T1. At least that used to be the answer. Nowadays there are a few more options out there for business that want more flexibility and more customization based on the way they use their bandwidth.

The problem with the old copper T1 technology is that it is a standard 1.5mb up and 1.5bm down. This hardly meets everyone business’ bandwidth needs. On the other hand paying for more T1s is hardly and efficient solution. Also, if anything goes wrong you are at the mercy of your local “last-mile” telecom provider that provides service to the rest of the city. Fiber is another option and it is blazing fast.  However,  in most places it is simply not available and even when it is available, the current pricing is attractive for very high usage businesses, over 10MB, but not for below that.

There is another option out there, wireless point to point microwave internet. Rooftop to rooftop connections for microwave internet can extend up to 30 miles between each tower. You don’t have to rely on your local telecom for support that is sometimes marginal in quality. The stability and consistency of a microwave traffic is very impressive and rivals that of a T1 when the provider knows what it’s doing. The bandwidth is very flexible and is basically negotiable per location between the buyer and the provider, while the costs are very competitive against the T1 or even fiber in the sub 10mb range.

Sure, the buzz is out there. The phone everyone has been waiting for, the iPhone 4, is finally in stores. But now that the prize is so close, there is an upset to be made. Motorola is about to release Droid X on the Verizon network and there are a number of features that are available on the Droid X that the iPhone 4 will not offer.

So, let’s get to it.  Removable Media Support. Droid X allows users to store 24GB of data, 16GB of which can be removable via a MicroSD card. This makes it easier to move data from phone to PC and vice versa. This is not offered on the iPhone.  High Quality Camera. While iPhone 4 only offers a 5 mega-pixel somewhat standard camera, the Droid X comes with an 8 meg-pixel camera with a mechanical shutter that allows for crisper shots with no blur.  This can actually be used as your main photo device.  Large Screen. Droid  X comes with a much bigger screen, 4.3 inches versus iPhone’s 3.5 inches. While iPhone’s screen is more refined, the bigger size impresses us more.  Flash Support. Most sites on the internet use Flash. Apple has an idealogical opposition to allowing Flash support on the iPhone. Drod X makes a practical step of letting you have a better web site viewing experience. Swype. This software allows users to drag their gingers across the screen from letter to letter when typing. No need to lift the finger before touching the next letter, as is the case with iPhone. This makes typing much easier.

While there are many other factors that go into iPhone’s favor, these benefits of Droid X can not be ignored if you want to make an informed decision. Currently about 160,000 new users are switching to the Android platform per day, up from 100,000 recently. There are over 30,000 apps available for the Android OS. Still less than for iPhone, but gap is closing. Let us know your thoughts.

Market places are the latest rage. In fact, the quality in terms of breadth and depth of applications that are available in a market place is becoming the deciding factor in the success or failure of the main product. You might think that I am referring to the smart phone competition among Blackberry, iPhone, and the Android based phones. In a way I am. But that is the old story, Apple has everyone beat for now. RIM is changing rules to make it more attractive for developers and Android is blazing forward in catchup with its open system.

The new story is the Google Apps Marketplace. Google Apps is a competing product to Microsoft’s Office, except that Google Apps is online (in the cloud), is free, and now has a myriad of add on tools, applications, and services that can be accessed through Google Apps Marketplace.  The variety of products is very extensive. From productivity tools, to integration with popular web services such as Harvest and Zoho, to free tools, and to much much more. This vast resource is the little know newcomer to the Google family of free tools. Give it a turn and let me know what you think.

Microsoft released an important patch for Excel spreadsheet productivity tool that is part of Microsoft Office, a widely used product across the globe. The vulnerability could allow unauthorized individuals to take control of the computer with the flaw.  All in all, Microsoft released 10 patches to address 34 flaws in Office, Windows, and Internet Explorer. Of those, 3 are critical.  Adobe also issued an update to address a vulnerability in its Flash Player that allows hackers to gain access to a computer.

We come across the most annoying issues all the time and have to use a combination of experience and other resources to find a fix. We’ll do our best to post as much of them as possible, but here’s one that we solved just today with the help of a few nifty programs and some flexing of the brain.
Here are the symptoms.

Computer running sluggish, opening task manager you’re seeing explorer.exe taking up 30+% of the CPU, even when you first turn on the machine. Small hint, even if you’re seeing explorer at 20% and the machine is idle, there’s a problem.

So here are some steps that should fix it, remember we’re fixing a general problem – NOT THAT RELATED TO .AVI FILES

1) Grab Process Monitor here

2) Open it up, right click on any explorer.exe line and choose Include ‘explorer.exe’ that should clear the list up a little bit

3) Open up task manager, click processes, click explorer.exe and end the task

3.5) This part you have to do quickly, within task manager, click File>run and type in explorer.exe and quickly switch to process monitor!

4) Look for repeat tasks where the result column has something other than SUCCESS
Right click on that line and click jump to.
Now, make sure you have a backup before you do the next step

Open Task Manager, click Processes, find explorer and end the process.

Now, in Task Manager click File>Run

Type in CMD

Now navigate to the folder of that file and either remove or rename it.

Now click File>Run and type in explorer
Explorer should come up and run without draining that poor CPU.
Enjoy using your computer again!

The scenario is all too common. Your current IT vendor just messed up your network for the last time. Not only that, he was days late in getting back to you to mess up that network, undermining your entire operation. Now, you will find someone who is a professional, like this guy was supposed to be.  You can’t just pick someone out of the sea of “IT Professionals,” this time you will find an IT professional through a referral. Except there is one problem, the IT provider that you’re about to fire came to you through a referral.

What are you to do? Your IT Infrastructure is the backbone of your business, yet you can not find people who can give you a consistent peace of mind. On top of that, the referral approach does not work because every single person you know has a cousin, a brother, a friend, or a third cousin’s niece’s college roommate’s uncle, who they swear is “Great.”

The problem is that it simply does not take anything to call yourself an IT Guy, IT Provider, IT Supplier, IT Professional, or any of the other synonyms for helping people take care of their computer issues. It starts with tinkering with computers since childhood, then progresses to helping Mom’s friends, then charging a couple of bucks for quick fixes. The problem, however, is that the IT vendors that develop in this manner and then stop progressing are constrained to being able to only solve things that they were able to solve before you or can figuire out on the spot. The constraint in most of these cases, is that they lack the foundation to understand what they are doing. So, they end up pocking in the dark. Sometimes they find the solution and sometime not. A lot of times they find the solution that is not the optimum resolution and it takes them to arrive at this solution a lot longer than for a person who really understands the complete logic of the endeavor and has experience solving this issue.

Very good. We have understood what we need a person who has a many years of general multi-field IT experience, a Computer Science degree from a real four year university, and has specific accredited IT certifications, such as MCSE, MCSA, MCP, A+, and CCNA. At this point of our refined search, we hit another roadblock. The problem is that out of the enormous pool of all the referrals that we can have from our circle of friends, non of referrals will qualify. The reason is that people with such qualifications usually have very very nice jobs working for companies that really value them. Another issue to really consider, is that if for whatever reason you happen to find such a person free-lancing, there will still be only 24 hours in his/her day. That means that this person can not possibly provide you with responsive service. Thereby mandating the pontential that when something terrible happens to your infrastructure he/she will not be there for you when you need it.

The alternative, using someone less qualified means that in addition to the potential lack of availability, you now have the potential of being overcharged for his/her time while this technician tries to solve something he/she has never seen before, which obviously would take longer. Of course, the possibility of being stuck with mis-configured, insecure, and dysfunctional network is much higher in such a scenario.

What is the alternative then? The answer is that if you are a company that does not need to spend tens of thousands of dollars per month on an internal IT Department, you need to hire an external IT Department and pay only for services that you use. This approach is more economical because you have access to a company who ensures that it has enough staff to provide timely service to you, while giving you access to a large knowledge base and experience inherent in external IT companies that have depth and breadth in terms of qualified staff. Another aspect of using an external IT help desk company is that it is supposed to have a quality assusrance system, standardization of ticket resolution system, standardization of billing system, knowledge sharing system, and an overall supervision of the entire ticket process and delivery.

To recap, let’s go over important points that will help you to select an IT service provider that will let you sleep at night:

• Has an organization of several trained technicians with response time guarantee
• Has customers who you can talk to and receive direct recommendation and description of their work
• Does not charge monthly fees up front or make you sign yearly contracts for support, you are supposed to pay only for what you use
• Has a Quality Assurance system that can be demonstrated
• Has documented standardized billing practices
• Has standardized ticket resolution process that can be demonstrated
• Has a robust knowledge sharing tool
• Has trained staff
• Has effective management structure of operational oversight over ticket resolution process
• Has experienced operational managers in all the significant fields of IT: Corporate Networking, Data Recovery and Storage, IT Security, Web Development, Server Management in Windows and Linux Environments, and Desktop Troubleshooting in Windows and Mac.

Such an approach to your next service provider will ensure that you are: 1) Not overpaying for extra time spent on undue research, 2) Receive expedient service, 3) Not stuck high and dry because IT vendor don’t know what to do, 4) Not overpaying for some locked-in monthly service that you might not even use.

Enjoy Your Search! This Should Help!

In just a bit over a year of being in existence in the public domain, Google Chrome has released four stable versions and has rapidly gained market share, coming close to 5%. Most importantly it has pushed the existing browsers to be faster, sleeker, and more stable. Yesterday’s release of Chrome 4 Stable marks a big leap forward for Google and everyone who wants speed, sleek looks, stable platform, and a lot of extensions to use as productivity tools or just to play with. While Chrome 4 was available with some of these features in the developer and beta channels, the stable release means that the end users can now have a solid and reliable browser.  It performs at a blazing speed, according to most benchmarks, and now has synchronization between multiple computers and over 1500 extensions.

Sync - Chrome 4 Stable allows you to synchronize all of your bookmarks across all of your computers, at work, at home, in your Caribbean vacation home, and of course your nifty netbook. All you need to do is to go to Chrome’s Control drop-down, select Bookmarks Sync and sign in with your gmail account. The rest is an easy walk through to complete the sync. Repeat this on all of your machines and presto, all of your bookmarks are synced.

Extensions - Mozilla Firefox has been at the forefront of the extension revolution. It enabled you to install program right into your browser that can enhance the browsing experience substantially. From having ball game scores always in front of you to helping you find the best deals on anything, extensions are there to help. Now, Chrome 4 brings these powerful tools to us in a faster and more modern platform.

On January 25th, 2010, United States Air Force announced that 24th Air Force, a fully fledged division of the USAF, has reached its Initial Operational Capability. The 24th does not have any planes, it is a Cyber Warfare unit, with a mission to defend the interests of the United States in both defensive and offensive roles. This is one of the major operating components of the future US Cyber Command. The writing is no longer on the wall, it is on the billboards: “All future conflicts will involve extensive internet-based attacks”, as it already happened during the Russian-Georgian war in 2008. Governments from around the glob are tripping over themselves to establish advanced defensive and more importantly offensive capability. The top contenders in the field are US, China, France, Russia, and Israel.

While the national level maneuvers might not concern most private citizens, it should be read as an indication of the status of current technology, positioning of threat capabilities from around the world, and what impact all that could have on your enterprise. Since the capability exists, it can be employed against undefended targets, such as most private enterprise, without detection or consequence. Therefore, individuals and enterprises who do not pay attention to the threat billboards in front of them, will be the first to suffer the consequences of whatever risk lies ahead. More importantly, undefended sites will and do fall victim to attacks of all sorts from the cyber space with all sorts of consequences, even without open hostilities among governments. This is simply because the capability is out there and the consequences for the professionals are non-existent.

The good news is that there are professionals on the other side of the fight. There are effective and proven detection and prevention tools that are available to the private sector. These tools are almost a no-brainer when the potential consequences are evaluated and the probabilities are calculated. Some solutions come in the form of separation of connectivity to the internet for highly sensitive data, while others in the form of hardware firewalls. It can be argued that the most efficient prevention method is a hybrid solution of software based detection agents installed on each network component and a human management system. This approach allows for detection of anomalies and the flexibility of a timely human investigation, which prevents most attacks at much more reasonable cost than more severe methods of detection and/or prevention. Find out more at http://www.thetechinfogroup.com/services/managed-host-based-security.html

As of now, there is no way to fix this issue through a setting or an update. The fix that will solve is to remove the registry key.

Web Remote Workplace Doesn't Work With IE 8

We recommend the following process to set your machine right.

Go to Manage Add-ons in the tools drop down in Internet Explorer to enable Terminal Services ActiveX Control. However, ActiveX control will not be found in the list.  So, this will help:

1. Go to Start menu in Windows, select Run, and type Regedit
2. Find registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Ext \ Settings
3. Find{7584c670-2274-4efb-b00b-d6aaba6d3850} and then remove it.
4. Close Internet Explorer
5. Run Remote Desktop Web Connection

You should feel a ray of light shining on you now.