Exids IT Solutions

You may notice when you get a brand new PC fresh out of the box it whizzes around like a top; flinging windows here and there, only taking seconds to complete the most complicated tasks.

Then, one day you may start to notice it doesn’t have the zing it once did, and:

• The PC takes longer to start.
• Programs take longer to open.
• Error messages start to pop-up and say you have missing or corrupt files.
• Your screen flickers and your desktop Icons disappear and reappear frequently 
• You recieve error messages that state you need to buy or install software to fix problems in your computer

This is about the time most people go to their CD collection and dig out the reformat or recovery CD. They toss it in the CD drive and minutes later their computer is back to the way it was when they first bought it.  Many people do this and lose ALL their data… this is unnecessary most of the time! It really does pain me to think of how many people go through this process everyday.

These can be Computer Virus Symptoms, and a sign that you have a sick computer. There are several things you can do for free before you go about spending a bunch of money on a technician that may just end up giving you a clean bill of health. The first things you will want to determine are:

• When did this first occur? Perhaps the problems started after you added a new printer or other hardware device. You could try unplugging or uninstaling this first before having a tech come onsite to charge you for an hour of doing this themselves.
• How long have you had the problem? If the problem has existed for a long time you may just need a tune up.  Yes, computer can slow down the longer that you own them – but they don’t get slow because of old age like people, they usually get slow because you have not maintained it properly.
• If you are getting messages, are they trying to sell you something? If so, this is a good indication you have been infected with some type of malware or spyware. in this case, you may want to run a free antivirus scan, and a free spyware scan to see if that will fix the problem.

You can run a free antivirus scan at one of the following sites to determine if in fact your symptoms are actually an indication that you are infected with a virus:

• Trend Micro

  http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

• Panda

  http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm

• BitDefender

  http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/licence.php

• McAfee

  http://us.mcafee.com/root/mfs/default.asp

• RAV

  http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/ 

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I just read this article by James Coates of the Chicago Tribune and thought many of you would find it to be very useful. Understanding what your child is doing at MySpace can be very effective in curbing them from getting into some types of trouble down the road, and more than anything give you peace of mind.

A. Overnight, MySpace replaced the convenience store parking lot or mall fountain as a gathering place for kids starting in junior high school or earlier and going pretty much all the way through high school and well beyond.
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I ran across this article after I saw this on the evening news

She is an honor student from a small town in Michigan. He calls himself Abdullah Psycho.

They found love on the Internet and it became an international incident — a spectacular example of what experts say is fast becoming a modern twist to an age-old problem of young girls, older men and bad decisions. Nationwide, Web enticement cases have quadrupled in recent months, according to a national group that tracks such incidents.

Katherine Lester, 16, is in hiding today after creating a global stir by leaving her mother’s home last week in the farming town of Gilford, population 833, and boarding a series of planes en route to Israel’s West Bank.

She wanted to meet a man with the ominous nickname, believed to be 25, whom she met on the popular Web site MySpace.com. Instead, FBI agents tracked her down Thursday during a layover in Amman, Jordan, and persuaded her to return to her bewildered family.

"Evidently, she’s in love with this man. That’s what she said," said family attorney Renee Wood, during a press conference Monday on the steps of the Tuscola County Courthouse in Michigan’s Thumb.

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A clip from dateline nbc to catch a predator.  This is an absolutley disturbing clip of a child predator being caught in the act – the worst part is that he brings his own child into it!

Thank You Break.com

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Parents once saw television as the big, bad wolf of media, but now the Internet bears bigger teeth for moms and dads concerned with their kids’ safety.

The World Wide Web is the No. 1 media concern for 85 percent of parents, compared to 13 percent who said the same of TV, according to a national poll recently released by Common Sense Media, a nonpartisan organization formed to improve the media lives of children and families.

Parents are fearful of the Internet but also see the softer side of this digital animal that’s taken over the information world.

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<div align="left">Battling perceptions that it’s an unsavory online hangout for sexual predators, social-networking giant MySpace.com has hired a former federal prosecutor to patrol the site and has launched a series of ads warning kids about the dangers of the Internet.

Fox Interactive Media (FIM), the parent company of Santa Monica-based MySpace.com, announced Tuesday the appointment of Internet safety expert and former Justice Department porn prosecutor Hemanshu Nigam, the company’s first chief security officer. Nigam, an advisor to the White House on cyberstalking, will oversee all safety, education and privacy programs and law enforcement affairs for the Web site, as well as the growing network of FIM properties. His appointment becomes effective May 1.

The announcement came just a day after News Corp., which owns FIM, began running public-service announcements by the Advertising Council — the nonprofit behind “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste” and other campaigns — on MySpace, News Corp.’s other Web sites, and its television channels, including Fox Broadcasting, FX and Fox Sports Net. The spots caution children to “not believe the hype,” meaning don’t trust anyone who approaches them online, even if they think it could be someone they know.

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I came across this interesting article today that I think you should all read:

There’s much that remains murky about a Justice Department proposal to require Internet companies to retain records detailing their users’ online activities for up to two years. But anyone who uses the Internet — and that’s just about everyone in America — ought to be concerned.

The plan was pushed by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, FBI Director Robert Mueller and other government officials at a recent meeting with executives from AOL, Google, Microsoft and other Internet firms. It would require companies to keep data on searches, e-mail traffic and unspecified details about users’ Web habits for possible use in terrorism and child pornography investigations. It could apply to Internet firms large and small, as well as providers of Internet access, including private employers, hotels, libraries, universities and operators of wireless hotspots.

Any plan would presumably have to be approved by Congress. To date, the Justice Department has not put forward a concrete plan or draft legislation.

Making it easier for law enforcement to catch terrorists and pedophiles is a good thing. But the government’s proposal poses security risks that could outweigh benefits. And it raises serious concerns about privacy, cost and usefulness.

The proposal would require companies to store and make searchable terabytes upon terabytes of data at a cost that no one is able to forecast but that is certain to be huge. How many additional servers would a Yahoo or an AT&T have to keep? What about a mom-and-pop ISP? And who will pay for all of it?

What’s more, these large data troves are certain to become targets of hackers, identity thieves and unscrupulous insiders. As the raft of recent data breaches has shown, there are plenty of companies, organizations and government agencies that do a lousy job at securing data. Forcing them to keep more of it would put everyone at risk.

Perhaps worst of all, the proposal would create a Big Brotherish Internet where everyone’s activities are recorded for future review. Initially, only those investigating terror and child pornography cases would be able to access the data. If history is any guide, other types of crimes would eventually be added. Private litigants in divorce and other civil cases would demand access too. Before long, users could lose trust in the Internet and begin to curtail their online activities.

The government already has the authority to demand that Internet companies keep records on individuals in connection with specific investigations. And so far, law enforcement officials have not made the case why that authority is insufficient. Perhaps they should start there, before trapping all of cyberspace inside a giant net of suspicion.

The government didn’t invent the idea of data retention. Many Internet companies have been tracking and storing the activities of their users for years, giving rise to many of the same privacy concerns, security risks and consumer fears. The government’s data-retention proposal would merely exacerbate them.

To bolster privacy and public trust on the Internet, online firms should consider being much more forthcoming about what personal information they collect and store and how they use it. And as they lobby to deflect new government data-retention mandates, they should also lobby for stronger laws to protect the data they already hold.

The source of this article is: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/14759508.htm

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