PASSWORD 101

Passwords provide defense from unauthorized access to your computer and accounts. Strong passwords ensure confidentiality and security of stored electronic information.

Having weak passwords is like leaving the door of your house wide open and allowing burglars to come inside and take what is yours.

I remember once, someone hacked into my friend’s Friendster account back when almost everyone then used Friendster. The hacker used her account to send inappropriate and explicit messages and post really mean statuses on her Friendster wall.

For people today who do money transactions online, having weak passwords will make it easy for hackers to have access to your accounts and before you know it, your credit card bill may come to you with a lot of purchases you know nothing of.

Here are some tips on having strong and secure passwords:

Use a different password for each account you make. If you do this, even if someone successfully gains access into one of your accounts, you are sure the person doesn’t get access to all your other accounts. It would help if you only make accounts for the sites that you would actually use. This way, you won’t have to memorize so many different passwords.

Never give out your password. Your password should remain personal and only you should have access to the accounts you make.

Use a combination of lower case letters, upper case letters, special symbols, numbers, and even spaces. This way, it would be hard for others to guess your password and even software won’t be able to get it right easily.

Don’t use obvious passwords. Passwords like the word “password”, your birthday, a sibling, a pet, and all kinds of usual passwords a lot of people use because they are easy to remember are a no-no because these passwords are very easy to guess.

Beware of phishers. Be very mindful of the links you click. Usually phishers direct you to a site that looks like a legitimate site you use and makes you log in. When you do type in your information, they save it and voila! They already have your information.

Consider using a password generator. Password generators provide you with a random and very strong password. You won’t have to stress about thinking of a password to use and worrying about it not being strong enough because the password generating software does that for you.

In making passwords, longer and complicated are usually better. Yes, it may be hard to remember but it would ensure your confidentiality and security of your passwords and accounts.

LAW AND ORDER: ACCESS NATION

WHICH IS REAL AND WHICH IS FICTITIOUS?

In the Access Nation episode of Law and Order’s Season 12, Detectives Briscoe and Green were investigating the murder of a psychologist named Tracy Conley.

Through investigation, they found that the murder may be linked to one of Tracy’s patients. Her client, a former rapist, asked for the aid of a to computer company to alter some information about him on Tracy’s computer.

With the help of the same computer company which sells information, the patient was also able to access Tracy’s private information

Now, let’s see which of the programs mentioned in the episode are real and which are purely fictional.

First, is it possible to recover files which have been modified recently?

The answer is yes, it possible and fairly easy. For Microsoft Word, specifically, you just have to follow a few steps. If the file was made in software other than Word and Excel, but is running on Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8, these versions have System Restore Tools which saves version information of your files. Aside from these, there is also available recovery software from the market like Recuva and RecoverMyFiles. which recovers files which were accidentally deleted or modified.

Second, does your computer really leave copies of deleted files in the hard drive?

Yes. When we delete a file from our computer, even after removing it from the Recycle Bin, it continues to exist on your hard drive. This helps us recover our deleted files and as demonstrated in Access Nation, it may help other people recover our confidential files.

Third, is there a worm that can make someone else take over your PC and see everything you type, keystroke per keystroke?

No. What worms basically do is copy itself from machine to machine. This makes your computer go slow because it takes up network bandwidth and computer processing time when they replicate. They may do considerable amount of damage but worms generally don’t alter files in your computer.

Fourth, is it possible to track banking transactions through computers?

Since the rise of the internet, banking transactions online has been made possible. All you need is connection to the internet and some account details and when you do payments or withdrawals or any transactions online, you would be provided with a transaction number from the bank or the transfer service enabling you to track your transactions.

And lastly, is there really information gathering software that can gather confidential information?

Just by searching the web and typing “information gathering software” we can see that there are quite a few of these software that claim to gather confidential information like the Software agent-mediated confidential information gathering system.  

There has also been a report about cookies that gather personal details much like what the worm was said to be capable of in the episode Access Nation.

Perks of Having an Android Phone

I prefer my Android phone over iPhones because of the following main reasons:

1.)    Most Androids are cheaper than iPhones.

-          Because Android OS is a freeware, it can be used by a lot of companies and carriers. Due to the number of competing phone companies, they tend to sell it at a cheap and competitive price.

2.)    Wide selection of devices and carriers.

-          As I’ve said, Android is a freeware. This means that it is available to a lot of handset manufacturers, providing a wide range of devices available for users.

3.)    More customizable.

-          There are a lot of available Home Launchers and Home Screens downloadable from the App Markets. You can even opt to use a Home Launcher similar to that of iOS. You can also choose which widgets you wish to use.

4.)    Alternative App Markets.

-          Aside from the Google Play Store, there are more App Markets available where you can download your apps.

5.)    Expandable Memory.

-          It is easier and way cheaper to expand Android memory via micro SD cards.

6.)    More apps.

-          More apps (free or paid) are available for Android devices than Apple devices.

7.)    It supports Java, Flash, video calling, MP4, 3GP, MPEG4, and MIDI.

-          I also like how it’s easier to share files via Bluetooth to others.

Computers vs. Humans

Since the development of computers, humans have been compared to them. Some people would say that computers are smarter than humans while others would argue that humans are still smarter than computers.

What are some advantages a computer has over humans?

One, a computer can process information faster. A computer usually takes just a few seconds or even less than a second while humans take longer to process information.

Two, a lot of people say that computers have more memory than humans. There are still people who would argue using the myth that humans only use around 10% of their brain and therefore has technically more memory than even the biggest memory available for computers these days (there is no scientific evidence to prove this).

Three, computers are said to be more reliable than humans. After all, humans commit human error.

Four, humans get distracted, tired, and hungry—the computer doesn’t experience any of these.

And five, computers retrieve data more reliably. Humans don’t always have reliable memory—we tend to forget things.

What are some advantages humans have over computers?

First, humans can think for themselves. They have reasoning unlike computers which are dependent on its users.

Second, humans have the ability to decide what it wants to do. It can think of whether an action is wrong or right while a computer only does what its users make it do.

Perhaps, it is best to say that humans are better at doing other stuff than computers in the same way that there are things a computer can do better than humans.