Keeping Your Child Safe Online

Kids are getting online more than ever these days, especially those who are into social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. I've seen kids as young as six or seven years old with Facebook accounts. While these websites can be fun, they can also be dangerous if they fall into the wrong hands and as a parent, it's your duty to make sure your child know the risks and how to protect themselves from harm's way.

Kids love to get online and are often more knowledgeable than their parents and teachers. That's why it's important that parents and teachers should take steps to learn about what's happening online and what their kids are involved with. Kids left to their own devices could end up in a number of troublesome situations, from dealing with a cyber-bully or a schoolmate with ill intent, to facing child predators or even con artists.

Communication is important. Talk to your kids about what they're doing online and remind them of the danger they could face and what to be on the lookout for. But there are other things to do to keep your kids safe.

1. Take advantage of parental controls. Children don't want their parents watching every move they make but many websites offers ways for parents to monitor or control their children's online activity while respecting their privacy. Talk to your kids about exactly what you plan to monitor or control and be honest with them to gain their respect.

2. Keep your computer in an area of the house where you can be there to keep an eye out, without hovering over your child's shoulder. Insist computers stay in the kitchen or living room and not in a bedroom or office, where your child can lock themselves away to get online.

3. Don't allow your children to meet random strangers whom they've met online. In the event your child absolutely has to meet someone, make sure a parents or trusted adult accompanies them. Make sure your children know the potential risks of someone not really being who they say they are.

4. Make sure you know the "code" your kids are using online. Acronyms such as "TAW" means teachers are watching and "PA" means parent alert. There are dozens of other ways kids use code to let their online friends know there is an adult around. If you see these frequently, you may want to investigate further what your child is doing.

4. Make sure your child's teacher is monitoring their online usage. Many schools have blocked certain websites but with kids' knowledge of the web, they can find other ways to get into trouble. With computers in almost every classroom these days, teachers should constantly monitor their students' use. If a student is clicking out of a window when you walk by or a group has gathered around one computer screen, chances are, your students are not doing what they should be.

5. Let your child know that they do not have to feel uncomfortable having a conversation online, just as in real life. Whether it's a friend or stranger they're talking to, make sure they know that feeling scared, trapped, threatened, or offended is not OK and it is OK to end that conversation. Talk to them about how they can end the conversation promptly and let them know they can talk to you about how they feel.

6. If you do set up a Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or other social networking website, make sure your child is taking advantage of the privacy settings. Make sure your kids are only adding friends who aren't safe to talk to and keep an eye out for anything suspicious.

7. Make your children aware of malicious information, such as spam or virus threats. Help them understand what it means and what they should and shouldn't open or click on.

8. Google your children's names on a regular basis. Again, you don't want your child to feel like you are spying on them, but you can do this to show them just how easy it is for ANYONE to find out anything about them. If your child has a blog, a social networking site you are not aware of, or have posted any information about themselves online, it will most likely come up in a search.

9. Again, communication is key. Make sure your kids know that not everything they see online is legitimate and talk to them about incidents in the news, so they know the risks.

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Intel Profits Up this Quarter

In this day and time, we're so used to seeing companies talk about how much money they aren't making and employees they aren't hiring, but for Intel, that doesn't appear to be the case. The world's largest computer chip maker announced last week that it has nearly quadrupled its quarterly net profit and has intentions to hire between 1,000 and 2,000 new employees in 2,010.

In a conference call with analysts, Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini said, "The industry has nearly fully recovered." He also accredits the increase in revenue to a higher demand for PC products and the fact that "the average fleet of notebooks is four years old, the average fleet of desktops is five years old." According to Otellini, "it makes business sense" to get new inventory now.

The comapany's profit for the first quarter (which ended on March 27) was about 2.4 billion dollars, up from this time, last year's 647 million dollars. Revenue rose 44% to 10.3 billion dollars. Wall Street had predicted 9.8 billion dollars, while the company itself had predicted 9.3 billion dollars.

Otellini also said in a statement, "looking forward, we're optimistic about our business as Intel products are designed into a variety of new and exciting segments."

The company has predicted 9.8 to 10.6 billion dollars for the second quarter, while Wall Street analysts have precited 9.69 billion.

Intel has already hired 100 employees this year. The company is based is Santa Monica and employs nearly 80,000 people (about 3,000 less than last year.

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Cisco's New Simple Home Routers

If you're looking for a simpler way to customize or control your wireless network, Cisco has announced its new Linksys E-series routers that will do just that. Also, the company's new Valet and Valet Plus, which are designed like the company's Flip Video products, will serve its core consumer base and make wireless network set-up easier than ever. According to IDC, only 1/3 of homes in the United States is set up for wireless internet use and Cisco believes these products will increase that number.

"Consumers have felt powerless and frustrated with the entire process of home wireless, but with Valet we are tearing down the walls and opening it up to everyone. The market for wireless-enabled products is exploding and now mainstream users will be able to take full advantage of all the new opportunities," said Johnathan Kaplan, the Systems Senior Vice President at Cisco.

Valet will ship with he company's Cisco Connect software and getting your home network up and running will only require three steps. All of your information is retained by a USB-enabled setup key that will ship along with it. This will allow you to add computing devices to the network by inserting the key and letting the software do the rest. You can also set parental controls, allowing your children to only be online during certain periods of the day for certain amounts of time, and provide internet access for guests with a special guest network.

Valet will set you back $99.99 and is great for smaller homes with primary wireless devices. Valet plus is better for midsized to larger homes with a mix of wireless and wired devices. It will cost you around $149.99. You can purchase both products from Linksys.com, Amazon.com, and Staples.

The new Linksys E-Series is designed for a more sophisticated user. Once you've set-up and configured your home network, you can add multiple internet-capable devices or set parental controls for each device. The products also allow for more complicated and advanced actions through the router's default IP address. The Linksy E-Series also ships along with Cisco Connect software, which allows you to give visitors password-protected internet access on a guest network, and it will assign a WPA security passkey and SSID automatically. While Valet comes with a USB set-up key, this one comes with CD.

The entry level Linksys E1000 will cost about $79.99 and will supposedly connect at speeds of 300 Mpbs. The middle-range model, the Linksys E2100L, and the high-end model, the Linksys E3000, will use 802.11n and can connect computers, gaming consoles, internet-enabled HDTVs, and Blu-ray players. They will cost $119.99 and $179.99, respectively. All three of the products feature four gigabit Ethernet ports.

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Make Your Computer Last Longer

The average computer lasts anywhere from two-five years. Eventually, your computer will tear up beyond repair or become so out-of-date that you can no longer use the latest software or accessories along with it, and you'll have to begin the dreaded, inevitable search for a replacement. Buying a new computer is a hassle if you don't know exactly what you're looking for and you aren't familiar with what's current. And of course, with today's economy and job market, you're probably cutting corners whenever possible. New computers can be expensive. Here are a few tips on how you can make your current computer last longer.

If your computer is older and it's running well, there's no need to get rid of it just yet. If you're using it for simple tasks such as word processing, surfing the internet, or manging pictures, age shouldn't be much of a factor. Routine maintenance will keep your computer running smoothly, save you money, and maybe even extend the life of your PC.

The temperature can have a big impact on your computer and cause a lot of damage. Computers generate a lot of heat and at one time had to be stored in climate-controlled rooms. You don't need to keep your living room or home office at a set temperature, but you do want to keep your PC from overheating. Make sure it's not left in direct sun too long and make sure it's properly ventilated.

You'll also want to keep your computer clean. Extra dust on or around your PC can trap heat and making your cooling fan work even harder. This can lead to lots of wear and tear, and eventually to your fan giving out all together. Be careful where you place the computer. Putting the machine on the floor can lead to lots of dirt and dust build-up. Also avoid any rooms with heavy dust build-up. Of course, no matter how careful you are, your computer is going to accumulate some dust, so you might want to blow it out with compressed air every so often.

Laptops are becoming extremely popular and generally don't last as long as desktops. You may leave your laptop plugged in all the time, but leaving it plugged in is bad for your battery. Apple even recommends users don't keep their laptops constantly plugged in and use the battery at times. A typical battery lasts 300-500 charge cycles, but if you find your battery struggling to stay charged, replacing it is a good idea and an inexpensive way to prevent yourself from having to buy a whole new computer.

Restarting your computer is another way to keep things flowing. Most people reboot when they hit trouble, hoping for a fresh start when the computer comes back on and this is actually a good idea. However, many people also leave their computer running 24/7. There's no set time as to how often you should reboot, but rebooting can give your computer a fresh start, speed things up, and serves as a small refresher to your PC.

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Apple to Prepare 12-Core Mac Pros and 27-inch LED Cinema Displays

Apple is hard at work putting the "icing on the cake" for a pair of new products that Apple says are targeted at their professional customers. The two devices in question are a larger version of Apple's LED Cinema Display as well as a major upgrade to the Mac Pro workstations according to AppleInsider.

The first product on the list is Apple's Cupertino-based second LED-backlit Cinema Display. The new version will upgrade the previous 24-inch model to a 27-inch model. The 27-inch model has been rumored to have been sitting in the labs at Apple waiting for the displays to arrive. The new model will have a 27-inch diagonal frame which will support a 2560x1440 native resolution.

Since the 27-inch iMacs were so successful, Apple now believes that they can market the displays at a much more affordable price. Apple has also said that they fixed the problems that plagued the same size panels ultimately slowing the momentum of the larger iMac offerings back when they released in October 2009.

But the increased monitors are not the only thing Apple is coming up with. The company is also producing their boldest update to the Mac Pro they have ever done. Details about the update are still kind of scarce but anybody familiar with the matter were very clear in stating that Mac maker's plans call for a dodeca-core model which supports a pair of Intel's latest Westmere-bashed hexacore chips totaling out at 12 cores.

Another rumor floating around is that Apple will more than likely stay with its existing Xeon strategy by putting in a pair of not-so-cheap Xeon 5600 Series "Gulftown" chips into a dodeca-core Mac Pro. Apple will also be offering a single processor model with only 6 cores with a price similar to the $2,500 quad-core model.

Both the 27-inch monitor and the 5600 Series should be available by June with the 5600 Series coming in 2.66, 2.8, 2.93 and 3.33GHz configurations with a price ranging anywhere from $996 to $1663 in lots of 1000. The new 32 nanometer chips have 12MB of L3 cache as well as 6 cores with 12 threads for each CPU.

Whichever rout you go, either the single or the double Xeon model, be prepared to shell out a nice chunk of change. However, by doing so you will definitely be rewarded in the end. No official release date has been set but we should see these products sometime this June.

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Never Use These Passwords

Computer security is more important than ever these days and one of the most simple things you can do to protect yourself is come up with a password that is not easy to guess. Sure, it's tempting to come up with something easy for your own benefit; with all of passwords we have to remember these days, you probably find yourself forgetting your passwords if you don't keep careful documentation of them, but an easy password is like an invitation to anyone looking to steal your information.

According to researchers at the University of Maryland's James Clark School of Engineering in College Park, unsecured computers are hacked into over 2,000 times a day or every 39 seconds. Study leader Michel Cukier says it's a lot more common than you think, "Most of these attacks employ automated scripts that indiscriminately seek out thousands of computers at a time, looking for vulnerabilities. Our data provide quantifiable evidence that attacks are happening all the time to computers with Internet connections. The computers in our study were attacked, on average, 2,244 times a day."

Hackers are experts at coming up with passwords. For example, many people use their user name as their password. If you think you're being clever, guess again. 43% of the time, hackers are able to guess passwords by simply guessing that it's the user name. So what other kind of passwords are common and easily guessed? Below is a list of the ten most common passwords:

1. User Name
2. User Name with 123 at the end
3. 123456
4. the word "password"
5. 1234
6. 12345
7. passwd
8. 123
9. test
10. 1

If any of these sound familiar, you probably need to change your information immediately. In addition, you might want to reconsider your user name if it's one of these top ten common user names:

1. root
2. admin
3. test
4. guest
5. info
6. adm
7. mysql
8. user
9. administrator
10. oracle

Once a hacker gains access to your computer, any number of things can happen. According to the study, the first things they do are check your software configuration, change your password, check your hardware and software configuration again, download a file, install the downloaded program and run the downloaded program.

But why are they doing this? Often, they are creating a "botnet." A botnet monitors your computer and reports back to the hacker. They can lead to fraud or identity theft, disrupt other networks or damage computer files, and lots of other criminal activity.

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Safe Eyes 6.0 Parental Internet Control Program

There are a variety of different types of parental control programs out there right now. Some force your kids to behave themselves while utilizing the Internet by reporting all of their actions to you. Other programs tend to stress parent-child communication instead of using strict control. Now the majority of these programs fall somewhere in between these two extremes. There goal is to keep kids from mistakenly or purposely finding sights that you want them to stay away from. Safe Eyes 6.0 is taking the middle ground. It has been deemed a “family Internet manager,” meaning that it is trying promote parent-child communication while still keeping its protective features.

The new 6.0 version is set up in a much different manner than the previous Safe Eyes program. When you log into the administrator page, there is a list of topics such as Web sites, music, games, internet messaging, videos, etc. that you can view the history of. This new page is a lot easier to navigate as it is a lot less busy. Safe Eyes is for both Mac and Windows platforms, so instead of utilizing either platform’s standard help system, Safe Eyes has designed built-in help pages. It is also important to notes that unlike many other parental control programs, Safe Eyes works exactly the same on either a Mac or Windows platform.

User Profiles
With Safe Eyes, you are the given the ability to install your program on up to three computers in your household, and once you create user profiles, they will be shared on all the different computers. You can create up to 10 profiles with Safe Eyes.

The settings page will allow you to see an overview of the settings of each account, including the administrators account. Also on this page, you will be able to make any high-level changes that are necessary.

Internet Filtering and Searching
Safe Eyes conveniently gives you the ability to block dozens of websites without having to specifically go through and name all of those sites. Safe Eyes has a list of dozens of categories that you can block automatically. They also allow you to select an age range that will then automatically block certain categories that they believe to be generally inappropriate. You are also given the opportunity to chose low, medium, or high filtering under each category.

You can also turn on safe search which will not allow your child to see search results for certain terms that they might try to look up. Things that you may specifically block with safe search include any search that might have profanity, sexually-suggestive material, or any other thing you defined as “bad” for that user.

Videos and Music
On sights like YouTube, kids can find anything from news items to porn. Many parents may feel the need to just block this sight entirely, but Safe Eyes has worked hard to filter through sites such as YouTube. Safe Eyes will filter out any inappropriate content on YouTube by checking metadata, tags, titles, and YouTube’s “inappropriate” flagged content. Safe Eyes will also filter through movie and TV clips by examining their MPAA movie rating or FCC TV rating. You can easily customize which user can view what kind of rated content by determining whether they can see G and TV-G, PG and TV-PG, or PG-13 and TV-14. Safe Eyes monitors videos from sites like Hulu, ABC, NBC, FOX, and iTunes. With sites like iTunes, Safe Eyes will restrict your child from downloading songs that have explicit lyrics.

The activity report that can be found on the administrator’s page will show you all videos that have been watched by users and all of the videos that have been blocked from your child. On this page, you can easily view what your child has been watching by clicking on a thumbnail next to contents summary. This makes monitoring what your children are watching quite easy.

Instant Messaging and E-mail
Safe Eyes has come up with a unique way for you to be able to monitor your kids emailing. You are given the ability to block any e-mails that your child receives except from senders that you yourself have whitelisted. It will also allow you to see all of the messages that your child receives including those that have been blocked.

Safe Eyes has not yet developed anything that will monitor Facebook or Myspace chatting, but it does check up on AIM, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger. If you choose to monitor your child’s web conversations, Safe Eyes will record every conversation that your child has online so that you can check up on them.

Game and Program Control
The control over the games that your child plays is quite easy to use. You can simply block any game websites that you don’t want your child to access. Choosing what programs you want your child to be able use is just as easy. Simply block all of the programs that you don’t want them to use and you’re set. Blocking games and programs is very straightforward with Safe Eyes, but the issue with Safe Eyes is that all kids have to do to get around the block is launch a renamed copy of the blocked program.

Protecting Your Personal Information
Kids have a tendency to sometimes reveal a little more personal information then you would like. You probably don’t want your child broadcasting things like your address and phone number, so what Safe Eyes does is let you decide what personal items you don’t want each child to be able to reveal. If your child violates the personal guidelines that you set down for them, Safe Eyes will alert you immediately. Although it would be nice if the program simply didn’t allow your child to post such information, at least it keeps you informed.

Instant Alerts
Safe Eyes gives you a variety of different ways to be notified when your child is violating the settings that you have set down for them. You can be notified via e-mail, phone, or text message. When you first set up all of the accounts on your computer, you choose a sensitivity level for each child. If that child reaches that sensitivity level then you will be immediately notified about what it is that triggered the alert.

Report Configuration
The administrator pages are very easy to navigate. Reports are stored by default. At first you will see the “today’s activity” page, but you can select any date range that you wish to examine. The main page gives you a basic summary of Web sites that have been blocked or allowed as well as the top searches and sites that have been visited. When you dig more deeply into the report, you can easily find all of the URL’s of the sites that have been visited or blocked.

On another page, you can see videos blocked and watched, music choices, and IM conversations, while in yet another section you can see all games and programs that have been used. On the social networking tab, you can view if your child has posted any personal information or profanity. Also, all of the e-mails that your child has received or sent can be viewed in a section as well.

Overall, Safe Eyes 6.0 is a very helpful and useful parental control program. It has a variety of different features that really do allow you to protect your child to the best of your ability. If you’re looking for a good parental control program, Safe Eyes definitely is a program that you should consider.

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