Cell Service At Summit of Mount Everest

A Nepalese company is soon going to make it possible for climbers to use their cell phones at the summit of Mount Everest. The company is constructing towers to create a 3g tower on Mount Everest so soon climbers are going to be able to check the weather forecast, check emails and call family and friends. This is interesting that even at the highest point in the world you are going to be able to be connected. This will be helpful for communication so climbers can get help in case of an accident. Climbers will just have to take cell phones instead of bulky satellite phones, which don't allow the features that cell phones have such as internet connectivity. I also wonder if this would take away from the whole "Everest experience" and the feeling of not being connected to the world. I suppose it will now be possible for climbers to post and tweet while climbing Everest. The company says that only one third of Nepal has cell reception and they want to change this with erecting more towers all over Nepal. This just probes that you can be connected in even the most remote places.

Halloween Malwater

There have been viruses circling lately that friends have been sending to scare other friends. After accidentally downloading the virus the user will be told that there computer is infected. These viruses come in a online greeting card or a link to the video. These viruses are just pranks and they don't actually cause any harm to your computer but if you don't know that these is a prank this can really scare you if you think you lost your precious data. The best way to avoid these viruses is not to open links if you suspect that whoever sent the email to you may want to scare you be sending you a prank virus. Never fear though if you get it it does go away after a while and causes you no harm there are just lots of windows that open up and will slow you down if you are in the middle of doing something. This prank virus can be described as the computer equivalent of toilet papering.

Worms

Worms are one of the fastest spreading computer infections. Worms are particularly nasty because they have the ability to self replicate without human interference. Worms can send themselves to other computers. Some worms do this by sending emails without knowing it to contacts in your address book and they can also send themselves through instant messaging. Worms are not always dependent on a user opening a file. This is true with the internet worms that scan the internet for vulnerable computers. These worms attempt to make contact with vulnerable computers and gain full access of them. Worms easily penetrate most firewalls and other networks security measure. Anti-virus software does attempt to battle worms but the success of this depends on your anti-virus and what worm is trying to infect your system. The best way to protect your computer against worms is to have anti-virus software that regularly updates itself and to not open suspicious emails. You should also be cautious when opening email attachments because even a word document can be infected with worms. Like any other infection if you get it there is always a chance that it may crash your computer.

Limewire No More

Today the popular music sharing network was ordered to shut down their file sharing network. Limewire has been fighting with the music industry for years and the music industry finally won. Now I'm sure there will be many more ITunes downloads, not like there wasn't millions before. I'm surprised that this case turned out the way it did and that Limewire was forced to shut down but then again the music industry would have more power over a relatively small software company. The Limewire website now has a notice saying that Limewire was forced to shut down because of a court order. Limewire being forced to shut down their file sharing network won't stop people from downloading free music though there is still many other file sharing networks out there. Limewire does say that this won't permanently put them out of business though and that they are working with the music industry and making the necessary changes. It will be interesting in the future if Limewire bounces back from this court order and what Limewire will be like if it comes back. 

Trojan Horse

Beast

a Trojan Horse program

Many people mistake Trojans as but they often don't spread from computer to computer. Trojans are spread by the user downloading a piece of software that looks legitimate before that install and looks like a legitimate piece of software but instead lets another user access to your computer. Some Trojans may change the user's desktop to display advertisements and some Trojans just install a toolbar in the web browser of the user. Other Trojan Horse infections the computer so person controlling the Trojan software can steal personal information, view the computer screen, download or upload files or log your keystrokes. Hackers don't have to be the person who distributes the virus they can scan a network to see if any computers have the Trojan installed so they can gain access to the computer. Some Trojans can be computer virus by asking a user on an instant messaging network to install the virus. There are Trojans that infect the computer and send messages to instant messenger contacts saying "here is a funny photo of you click on the link to see it" or something similar. Trojan type malware use is becoming more and popular and 83% of all viruses detected are Trojan-type malware. Luckily most times the Trojan infection is detected by anti-virus software before the software is installed so it can't cause any damage. If you suspect you accidently downloaded a Trojan and your anti-virus didn't detect it you should not open the file and have you have your anti-virus do a complete scan of your computer.

Mac or PC

People always debate if Macs or PCs are better. The truth is they are very similar, after all how different can computers be. Many people do have a preference of operating system. Some people prefer to have a Mac for many reasons.A benefitof having a Mac is that they aren't as virus prone as PCs because there are less Mac users. The lesser number of Mac users can also be a disadvantage because of some programs that aren't compatible with Macs. This is not as big of a deal any more now that there are more Mac users there are more compatible software you often just have to look harder than if you were buying software for a PC. If you want to buy a Mac you should also expect to pay more than if you were buying a PC. Macs do also boast to be more user friendly than PCs. I did find that apple tries to stick by there products being self explanatory when I got my IPod touch and there was only a small pamphlet outlining some of the futures of my IPod touch and there not being a users manual. Some people argue that PCs crash more than Macs but the truth is all computers can and do have problems.More have PCs so there may be some compatibility issues when creating a program on a Mac and then opening it up on a PC. Macs and PCs are very similar and it is there are less compatibility issues with Macs with more Mac users. 

Computer Infections

Most people who own a computer connected to the Internet have most likely experienced the frustration of getting a computer infection. Depending on the infection it can wreak havoc on your computer and possibly corrupt your operating system files so your operating system has to be reinstalled. Some viruses can just be more of an annoyance than anything others can crash your computer and steal your personal information. In this blog a use the phrase "computer infection" because not all infections are considered viruses in order for an infection to be considered a virus it has to spread from the infected computer to another and not all infections do this. An example computer infection that is not considered a virus is the Trojan Horse infection because it is spread by one user and is not spread from the infected computer to other computers. There are ways to prevent against viruses one of these ways is to download anti-virus software another way is to only download programs and files from reputable sources. This week each day I am going to write about computer infections and there effects and how to avoid them.