Fun Computer Facts from Long Island Computer Repair Co. HeroTechs

I decided to provide some fun and interesting facts about the computer industry for todays Long Island Computer Repair Blog from HeroTechs.  There are so many facts out there and most are boring.  I read through them all and decided to bring you the very best ones I read.  A few items to mention is that some very large well known companies such as Xerox has had a huge role in the development of items such as the Operating System and Mouse as well as the origional Fax Machine.  To bad they didn’t have the good business sense to patent and trademark some of their ideas.  Another item to note is that if you take your Mac and make it an aquarium you have a Macquarium like the picture to the side.  Anyway I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing this.

 

 

• The QWERTY keyboard sequence is 129 years old.
• Hewlett Packard was started at a garage in Palo Alto in 1939
• Seagate introduced the first hdd for pcs in 1979.It held 5 M.B of data.
• While it took the radio 38 years, and the television a short 13 years, it took the World Wide Web only 4 years to reach 50 million users.
• When the cd was invented, it was decided that a cd should be long enough to hold beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at any tempo which was precisely 72 minutes.
• “Stewardesses” is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
• Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft was a college drop out.
• Bill Gates math SAT score was a perfect 800
• Bill Gates’ house was designed using a Macintosh computer.
• Another name for a Microsoft Windows tutorial is ‘Crash Course’!
• On eBay, there are an average of $680 worth of transactions each second.
• 80% of all pictures on the internet are of naked women
• The average 21 year old has spent 5,000 hours playing video games, has exchanged 250,000 e-mails, instant and text messages and has spent 10,000 hours on the mobile phone.
• One terabyte(1000 gigabytes) is equivalent to storing a stack of documents that is more than 16 times the height of New York’s Empire State Building.

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Why I don’t buy the Hype about running AntiVirus on your SmartPhone

Brought to you by HeroTechs Long Island Virus Removal Experts:

A word about getting a Virus on your iPhone or SmartPhone… there are virus scanners out there which will scan your phone for viruses, back your data up and locate your missing phone all packaged as a “Security Application”.  I downloaded and tried some of these and decided to run my phone unprotected.  The first thing is that my data is replicated using Microsoft Active Sync with my exchange server to many devices, therefore it is protected with multiple copies.  If my phone was to get an infection I simply perform a hard reset and restore my phone back to it’s original settings and then reload my user account information for synchronization and I am back in business pretty quickly.  The only useful feature is the find your phone feature but the entire application is a resource hog.  I decided that having performance outweighed the small chance of infection and given the quick rebuild resolution time I decide that these software packages do not perform valuable ROI.  Just my 2 cents.

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A Brief Introduction to Computer Virus and Malware from HeroTechs Long Island Computer Repair

A Brief Introduction to Computer Virus and Malware from HeroTechs Long Island Computer Repair

What is a Computer Virus?  Simply put it is a computer program which reproduce and install itself on other computers.  Most Viruses are highly contagious and in many instances causes harm to a person’s system or data.  The term Computer Virus is erroneously used to refer to other types of Malware, adware, spyware, and rootkits.  According to AVG Antivirus traditional  Virus activities on the web are only about 3% of the infection base.  This means that 97% of the infections out there fall into one of the other categories.  Computer viruses can be removed and the system repaired without a rebuild required in 99% of the instances.

Other Infections HeroTechs Long Island Virus Removal help with:

What is Malware? Malware is a term shortened for Malicious Software designed to allow access to a computer system without the owner’s consent.  There are many forms of malware (Virus’s, Worms Trojans, rootkits.) and all of them cause harm to the integrity of a computer system and can cause damage to your data files.  Malware can be contagious if the infection is a typical virus.  Malware can be removed and the system repaired without a rebuild required in 99% of the instances.

What is adware? This is advertising supported software which automatically downloads advertisements to a computer based on the persons data collected from their prior surfing activities which is collected by the adware, analyzed for best product placement and then delivery of the targeted advertisements most likely to be purchased or “acted” on by the user.  Adware is not contagious to other computers.  Adware can be removed and the system repaired without a rebuild required in 99% of the instances.

What is Spyware? Simply put this is software installed on a computer to spy on the user.  Some of this software can be legitimate as a company who monitors employee activity may install it but on a home computer or in most small businesses it is not normal to see spyware on a computer which someone put there.  All other spyware is bad.  These buggers install added functionality into your web browsers without your knowledge and can interfere with the proper functioning of a computer.  Spyware is not contagious to other computers.  Spyware can be removed and the system repaired without a rebuild required in 99% of the instances.

What is a Rootkit? Rootkits are fairly new to the world and we have seen these infections on the rise.  In plain English a Rootkit is a software kit which was used to gain Root (admin level) access to your computer.  Once a Rootkit is installed it typically replaces critical system files with it’s own and then hides it’s activity.  Many times Rootkits install malware and even after the infections are removed they reappear.  If you get a Rootkit we always recommend a fresh format and rebuilding of the OS to ensure your computer integrity and the privacy and security of your data and web surfing patterns.

If you need help removing any of these infections please call HeroTechs Long Island Computer Repair at 1-888-443-7683

Google, Mozilla announce new ‘do not track’ features

One area of privacy we have all seen disappear is online Privacy.  I have seen firsthand how easy it is to target a customer base via likes, Geography, and even computer IP address.  Until now there has only been 2 sides of the coin.  The first is that cookies are necessary to track where you purchase online goods from lets say Amazon as an example.  Cookies allow you to place an item into an online basket allowing you to continue to shop and when you check out all of your items are in the cart because the cookie was able to track your purchases.  The other side is that advertisers are able to track you to and deliver highly effective and impacting advertising campaigns to their direct target audience thereby making their advertising more effective using your perceived private information.  People in this camp want to permanently turn off all cookies unless someone opts in.  This is not a good choice.

Today there was a breakthrough because Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox developed with the advertising community an “Opt Out” feature for their web browsers allowing the end user to Opt out of personalized advertising.  Microsoft also announced that the next version of IE will have an Opt Out feature as well.

This valuable information was brought to you by HeroTechs Long Island Computer Repair.

• You can visit us on the web at www.herotechs.biz
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• And you can follow our tweets on important Technology News at www.twitter.com/HeroTechs

Warning: Dangerous New eMail Virus

There is a new computer Virus showing up in peoples inbox claiming to be from a friend named Ashley Anderson.  Beware as this is a very dangerous virus which is capable of registering all personal information typed on a keyboard which can compromise your real identity given the fact that most of us bank online.  The eMail states that the end user knows Ashley and that Ashley got married and forwarded a link to the pictures of the wedding.  If you open the eMail or click the link you risk being infected by this virus.  The best thing you can do is delete the eMail. 

 

Here is a Print Screen of the Virus eMail (Click it to see larger):

For more information on this virus read the following article:  http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/tech-news/beware-of-ashley-anderson-its-a-virus_100444405.html

Where Can I Go for Computer Help?

Both Microsoft and Apple have terrific technical support with high rankings givens by Consumer Reports Magazine.  Each vendor has different preferred ways in which they want you to be self sufficient in solving your own technical issues.  One place is their support websites where there is a wealth of knowledge.

The Apple Support Website is located at http://www.apple.com/support/ and provides technical support related articles, tech specs, product manuals for all of their products.

The Microsoft Support Website is located at http://support.microsoft.com/ and allows you to visit Solution Centers to help you fix a Technical Problem.  Additionally there are downloads and updates, Key Resources for Home Users and an online Community called Microsoft Answers which has Experts on hand to help.

Of Course if you don’t find your LI Computer Repair answers here you can always try our website at http://www.herotechs.biz or call HeroTechs on our toll free number 1-888-4-HEROTECHS that’s 1-888-443-7683, and remember…

…Why Call a Geek, When You Can Call a Hero!  For all Long Island Computer Repair please feel free to contact us.

Back to Blogging

Hello Folks…..While this blog has been dorment for a little while it is back in use.  I love to blog but have only had limited time on my hands.  Begining today I will be back to blogging.  I am not sure how many per week or day I can post but we will see what is in store.  Glad to be back.  Be sure to check out our newly updated website at http://www.herotechs.biz to see what how we can help you with your technical difficulties.

Adobe Patches Flash Player

A patch was released yesterday to fix seven vulnerabilities in Adobe Flash Player. Six of them are critical bugs.

The update was the first for the software since July.

One of the bugs that were fixed is in the Flash Player ActiveX control for IE. An attacker can pilfer information by taking advantage of the hole.

“Overall their security advisories are on par with Apple’s. Well actually, I might have to give Apple a few notches up over Adobe,” said Andrew Storms of nCircle Network Security.

Source: COMPUTERWORLD

www.herotechs.biz

Net pioneer GeoCities finally laid to rest

The closure of GeoCities marks the end of an era, as the Internet community says goodbye to the pioneering Web site creation and hosting service portal.

Yahoo shut down the site Monday, 10 years after it bought the Web property for almost US$3.6 billion in stock–though the value was later revised to US$4.5 billion….

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-357081.html?tag=content;col1

Brought to you by HeroTechs a Long Island Computer Repair Company

Source: ZDNet