Blog — Page 18

April 2013 Newsletter

March 30, 2013 By Rob Marlowe

In April, we get to enjoy the color and fragrance of the first spring
blooms. Among the flowers, however, there are often weeds and this
applies to the Internet as well. A case in point: Your inbox will be a
mixture of welcome messages and unwelcome scams. We begin this issue by warning you about fake Facebook Security Team emails that try to get your personal information.

You’ll also find a “bouquet” of other fun and useful resources here. Get
inspired by this month’s Pinterest selections. Learn what the software
term “Easter Egg” means. Check out cool sites including one to search for unclaimed property and another to pick out a tree for your property.
Enjoy two charming videos starring a soft-hearted couple and three
hard-working farmers. Then take a minute to pick up some timesaving
keyboard shortcuts.

We think you’ll find the information contained in this newsletter to be a valuable tool for enhancing your Internet experience.

Here’s what’s inside our April 2013 Newsletter:

SCAM ALERT – EMAILS CLAIM TO BE FROM FACEBOOK SECURITY TEAM

THIS MONTH’S FAQ – WHAT DOES THE SOFTWARE TERM “EASTER EGG” MEAN?

SITES OF THE MONTH – GREAT SITES TO CHECK OUT IN APRIL

TWO TO VIEW – A COUPLE OF AMAZING VIDEOS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS

SHORT TUTORIAL – SAVE TIME BY LEARNING KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

The Gulfcoast Networking Team

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SCAM ALERT – EMAILS CLAIM TO BE FROM FACEBOOK SECURITY TEAM

Cybercriminals are using fake Facebook Security Team emails to trick
unsuspecting users into visiting a malicious page and entering their
usernames and passwords. Check out this sample email to see how the scam works:

http://www.eNewsletterHome.com/_eNewsletter/2013/1304_A.gif

Recipients are told their Facebook account is about to be suspended due to a violation of the social network’s Terms of Service. The message includes a bogus link that takes users to a phony third-party Facebook application that asks them to enter their Facebook account name,
password, and other information. If entered and submitted, this information is automatically sent to the scammers and used to hijack the account.

Scammers use official sounding page names, applications, and links to make their schemes appear legitimate to unsuspecting users. If you have fallen for the trick, try to access your Facebook account. If you are able to do so, change your password immediately. In the event you have already been locked out, report the compromise and Facebook will help you regain control of your account.

For information about other Facebook scams and how to protect your privacy and security, visit http://facecrooks.com.
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NEWS FROM THE SHOP

We’ve got a new look for our website and you’ll see more features
pop into place over the coming weeks. The corporate site is
at http://gn.gulfcoastnetworking.com and the home / consumer site
is at https://home.gulfcoastnetworking.com

We have one of Intel’s newest desktops, the “NUC” on display. Come
by and check it out.

Two of our corporate customers are seeing an amazing new server that simply blows away anything more than a few years old. The new server platform is scary fast. We’ll be offering this groundbreaking technology to our other corporate customers as they come up on their next server refresh.

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Invite This Handy
Hedgehog To The Party
http://pinterest.com/pin/291537775848252398

Sweet Cupcake Is
Spring In Full Bloom
http://pinterest.com/pin/291537775848252898

Wrap Up Cute, Quick,
And Colorful Vases
http://pinterest.com/pin/291537775848238669

You haven’t started pinning on Pinterest yet and you want to get
started?
To sign up, go here https://pinterest.com/join/signup/

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THIS MONTH’S FAQ – WHAT DOES THE SOFTWARE TERM “EASTER EGG” MEAN?

Question: I’ve heard the term “Easter Egg” applied to software. I’m familiar with the chocolate candy variety I saw in baskets last month, but not this kind. What is an Easter Egg?

Answer: An Easter Egg is an undocumented function or inside joke hidden in software by its makers — secret “goodies” found by word of mouth or by accident. They are in no way destructive and are usually placed there simply for additional fun and credits. The term was coined by Atari after a secret message was left by software designer Warren Robinett in the video game Adventure. This practice is similar in some respects to hidden signature motifs such as Alfred Hitchcock’s legendary cameo appearances in his movies and the “Hidden Mickeys” throughout the various Disney Parks.

In computer software, Easter Eggs are secret results that occur in response to an undocumented set of commands. These results can vary from a simple printed message or image to a page of programmer credits or a small videogame hidden inside an otherwise serious piece of software. Videogame cheat codes are a specific type of Easter Egg, in which entering a secret command will unlock special powers or new levels for the player. Easter Eggs can also be found in movies, TV commercials, DVDs, and CDs.

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SITES OF THE MONTH – GREAT SITES TO CHECK OUT IN APRIL

Play Virtual Keyboard
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/music/piano/strings.htm
Here’s a way to add a musical note to your day — try your hand at
playing this virtual keyboard. Choose piano, organ, saxophone, flute, pan
pipes, strings, guitar, steel drums, or double bass. Who knew you could
sound so good?

Find Money That Might Be Yours
http://unclaimed.org
Billions of dollars are waiting in unclaimed property programs and some
of it could be yours. Do a search at this site from the National
Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, affiliated with the
National Association of State Treasurers and Council of State Governments.

A Tree-mendous Resource
http://www.arborday.org/index.cfm
Arbor Day is celebrated April 26 in the U.S. and it’s a great time of
year to pick out and plant trees. You’ll find all the help you need to
dig into tree projects at this Arbor Day Foundation site. It includes a
tree guide, nursery, care tips, forums, and more.

Creative Cakes Plus Cool Cash
http://www.womansday.com/food-recipes/dessert-recipes/9-splendid-spring-party-cakes-107510
There are plenty of cake-worthy occasions in spring — from graduations
to showers — so check out this sweet resource for celebratory cake
recipes. While on the site, register to win $100,000 in the Goodbye Debt
Sweepstakes.

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TWO TO VIEW – A COUPLE OF AMAZING VIDEOS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS

http://www.eNewsletterHome.com/_eNewsletter/2013/1304_VIDEO_A.htm

Heartwarming Surprise Puppy
This video captures the touching moment when a man surprises his
girlfriend with a pug puppy to help console her after the loss of her
10-year-old beagle to a brain tumor. It’s nonstop tears, hugs, and canine
cuteness that will make you smile.

http://www.eNewsletterHome.com/_eNewsletter/2013/1304_VIDEO_B.htm

I’m Farming And I Grow It!
Who doesn’t love a parody music video? This homegrown one was produced by the Peterson Farm Bros. and proudly spotlights the work of farmers. Since they “gotta feed everybody,” they dance through crops, cattle, and combines.

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SHORT TUTORIAL – SAVE TIME BY LEARNING KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

In today’s fast-paced world, it seems we’re all looking for ways to get more done in less time. One way to be more efficient while on the computer is by using keyboard shortcuts to do frequent tasks instead of
moving the mouse and clicking icons.

To perform a keyboard shortcut, you press two, three, or sometimes four keyboard keys at the same time. If that sounds tricky, keep this in mind: You can press and hold the Control (CTRL) key first and then press the other key(s). If you’re a Mac user, use the Command (CMD) key instead of the CTRL key for the keyboard shortcuts below.

Here are some of the most popular keyboard shortcuts:

CTRL+S (Save)
The first rule of computer use is to save your work often. You never know when the program you’re using, or your entire computer, is going to crash. It’s a good idea to use this shortcut after every few sentences you write.

CTRL+Z (Undo)
This shortcut lets you undo a mistake very quickly. Pressing CTRL+Z several times will often undo the last several changes.

CTRL+C (Copy)
CTRL+V (Paste)
If you do a lot of copying and pasting of text, these keyboard shortcuts will really save you time. Just use the mouse to select what you want to copy, press CTRL+C, click the mouse where you want to paste, and press CTRL+V.

There are hundreds of other keyboard shortcuts and, depending on your computer habits, you may want to learn more of them. For complete information, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449 visit this site for Windows or http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1343 this site for Mac.

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We hope you found this newsletter to be informative. It’s our way of keeping you posted on the happenings at our shop.

Thanks for your business!

Best regards,

Rob Marlowe
Gulfcoast Networking, Inc.
6335 Grand Blvd
New Port Richey, FL 34652

727-847-2424

(We have used our best efforts in collecting and preparing the information published herein. However, we do not assume, and hereby disclaim, any and all liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions resulted from negligence, accident, or other causes.)

Projects

March 23, 2013 By Rob Marlowe

GEEKNOTE: The last couple of weeks have been relatively quiet around the shop, so both my partner, Tim Hunt, and I have been able to spend some time working on special projects.

Tim is our server geek and he loves to tackle interesting server projects.

Tim built a Xeon server in a mini-ITX case that is smaller than my toaster. He installed Microsoft’s Hyper-V system, along with a pair of Windows 2012 Server virtual machines, a Windows 7 virtual machine, and a Windows XP virtual machine. For good measure, he used solid state drives instead of the normal rotating drives.

Using the two 2012 virtual machines, he set up a test for one of our customers. Their Quickbooks data file is almost a gig and a half in size. Simple reports can take 30 minutes or more to run on their current server. On the test machine, the same reports run in 30 seconds or so. I think we have the customer’s attention.

I’ve quoted the customer for a Hyper-V based box of their own. By using one virtual machine for a file server and a second one for terminal services (“RDS”), our customer’s sales folks can carry a iPAD or other tablet with them on sales calls and place their orders directly, sending an invoice via email before they ever leave their customer’s location.

The cool thing about Hyper-V is that the virtual machines are hardware independent. You can move a virtual server to another physical server and you are good to go without any concern about drivers or other compatibility issues.

Windows Server 2012 comes with licensing for Hyper-V, up to two processors, and up to two virtual servers. This represents a $1000 savings on the OS compared to having two Windows Servers running on two separate single processor servers. Likewise, building a single physical server with enough horsepower to run two full blown virtual servers is not as expensive as building two separate physical servers.

The Windows 7 and Windows XP virtual machines are for my benefit. I am going to be testing some software updates without taking the chance of trashing a conventional desktop system. If something blows up, I can simply reinstall the virtual machine image and be back where I started.

I’ve also been working on updating our desktop line of custom built machines. The Intel motherboard we’ve been using for the last year and a half or so has been replaced by one that can take advantage of the newest third generation Intel core processors. I built an i5 quad core system using both one of the new motherboards and a brand new third gen processor. The performance is amazing and isn’t THAT much more expensive than our reference i3 dual core system. We are also updating the reference system without a price increase from the previous generation.

Both Tim and I have been testing a NAS (Network Attached Storage) based backup system to solve an issue that one of our customers encountered when trying to use high capacity USB drives to backup their server. Windows Server’s built in backup program chokes on modern hard drives. Both of us are partial to backup solutions that include both onsite and offsite backups, but this particular customer is extremely price sensitive and so we are trying to come up with a solution that fits their budget. I’ll have a better idea tomorrow whether or not my latest test backup configuration works. I’ll also see how Tim’s testing has worked out.

For good measure, I’m installing beta mail server software on multiple servers while I write this GEEKNOTE. These updates are generally painless, unless I make a mistake.

I absolutely LOVE my job. It sometimes seems that I get paid to play with the latest computer “toys”. I wake up early and can’t wait to see what challenges the day will bring. It has taken me a while to find my “dream” job, but the search was definitely worth it. Life is too short to spend 8 hours a day being miserable. If you don’t love what you do, keep looking.

As always, feel free to drop me a note or give me a call if you have any questions about your computer or the Internet.

Rob Marlowe, Senior Geek, Gulfcoast Networking, Inc.
http://www.gulfcoastnetworking.com
(727) 847-2424

Meet the Geek

March 22, 2013 By Rob Marlowe

Hi, my name is Rob Marlowe and I’ve probably got the greatest job in the world…I get paid to play with computers!

A little background: I bought my first PC, a Radio Shack TRS-80 back in 1978, and I’ve been hooked ever since. That first computer had 4k of memory, and you had to load programs using a cassette recorder. Hard drives weren’t available, and floppy drives cost hundreds of dollars.

I started a computer bulletin board service (BBS) in 1985, and we used a store & forward email system (FIDONET) to send messages to other systems via long distance phone calls.

In the early 1990s, I attended a BBS conference in Colorado Springs where the hot topic was how to connect our systems to each other using a TCP/IP network…something called an “Internet”. This was all around the same time that a fellow in England by the name of Timothy Berners-Lee had come up with a way of sharing data over the Internet with something called a “web”. Interesting idea. As they say, the rest is history.

Some friends and I created Gulfcoast Networking in 2003. I’ve got primary responsibility for the consumer services division, which includes managing the store, doing remote sessions with customers, and working on machines that come into the shop for repair. I’m also the TCP/IP WAN expert on staff. In my spare time, I keep Quickbooks running, do purchasing, and keep our social media / website presence up to date.

Our other techs handle the corporate service calls, but I’ve been known to do some of that as well.

Contact Info: