I ran across a blog entry on the ZDNet website and I was so inspired that I decided to write my own version of the blog and recount my own experience.
A number of years ago, a refugee family from Africa found their way to our fair country. Our church had decided to support them in various ways and they petitioned the congregation for help. Since they had literally nothing (They truly knew the meaning of “nothing but the cloths on their backs”), anything that we could give would be useful.
Wanting to help, I dug up the old computer that I had just replaced with a new system. I cleaned it up and talked with the local internet provider to see if they could provide them with free Internet access. They agreed to help.
At the Christmas Eve service, I pulled the father of the family aside and surprised him with the computer. I apologized that it was not the fastest or newest computer but it was reliable and worked well. He and his family were ecstatic! I offered to help set up the system but their oldest boy wanted to try by himself first. Soon after, they quit coming to our church and I never heard from them again until…
A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from the father whom I gave the computer to. In the e-mail, he apologized for not sending me the e-mail earlier but he wanted to let me know how that computer changed their lives.
The first thing it did was get him his first job. He got a job translating documents but one of the requirements was that they have a computer at home do the work. The system allowed him to do that job!
The other thing it did was strike an interest in his oldest son (the one who wanted to set up the system). He was now attending university in the Computer Engineering field.
What I would like to do is challenge each and every one of you DCoTers to take a look through your older computer equipment and see if you can put together a system that could help out someone in need during the holiday. It may just be a “pile of junk” to you but it can make all the difference in the world to someone in need.
If you have ever done something like this or you plan to do something like this, I want to hear about it. Leave your Christmas Tech Miracle stories in the comments for all to read.
I ran across a great spyware removal sight today. 411 Spyware Remove enables you to get rid of those pesky bits of spyware that are clogging up your system. They have a search engine, a removal tool, and instructions on how to remove hundreds of different types of spyware!
There are times that I think spyware may be worse than some of the viruses that are out there! Maybe I’m just paranoid about my information being out there but I will do whatever it takes to protect my computer system from these little devils. I’m definitely going to be using this site a lot.
Also, I’ve added them to the blogroll and blogroll search so you can use the blogroll search to find and destroy your (least) favorite spyware.
November 30 is Computer Security Day. Its purpose is to make people aware of how we can make computers more safe and secure. Here are 50 ways you can celebrate Computer Security Day, taken from their website:
Display computer security posters.
Present computer security briefings.
Change your password.
Check for computer viruses.
Show computer security videos, films or slides.
Protect against static electricity.
Modify the logon message on your computer system to notify users that Computer Security Day is November 30.
Vacuum your computer and the immediate area.
Clean the heads on your disk drives or other magnetic media drives.
Back-up your data. (after being certain that it is virus-free.)
Delete unneeded files.
Initiate a computer security poster design contest for next year.
Demonstrate computer security software.
Publicize existing computer security policy.
Issue new and improved computer security policy.
Declare an amnesty day for computer security violators who wish to reform.
Announce COMPUTER SECURITY DAY in your internal newsletter.
Examine the audit files on your computers.
Verify that the “Welcome” message that is normally used on your computer is appropriate for your organization.
Write-protect all diskettes that are not to be written to.
Take the write-protect rings out of the tapes in your library.
Verify your inventory of computer applications.
Verify your inventory of computer utilities and packaged software.
Verify your inventory of computer hardware.
Install and inspect power surge protection as appropriate.
Install fire/smoke detection and suppression equipment in computer areas.
Eliminate dust from computer areas, including chalk dust.
Provide dust and water covers for personal and larger computers.
Post “No Drinking” and “No Smoking” signs in computer areas.
Develop a recovery plan for all computer systems that require one.
Verify that passwords are not “Posted” and all other keys are secured.
Verify that backup power and air conditioning fit your needs.
Have a mini training session to provide all computer users with a basic understanding of computer security.
Verify that all source code is protected from unauthorized changes.
Verify that each computer has trouble log and that it is being used.
Verify that appropriate off site storage exists and is being used.
Remove all unnecessary items such as extra supplies, coat racks, and printouts from the computer room.
Select a computer system on which to perform a risk analysis.
Begin planning for next year’s COMPUTER SECURITY DAY.
Change the FORMAT command in DOS to avoid accidentally FORMATing of disks.
Protect the computer on your store-and-forward phone message system.
Hold a discussion of ethics with computer users.
Volunteer to speak about computer security at a local computer club or school.
Collect Computer Security Day memorabilia to trade with others.
Register and pay for all commercial software that is used on your computer.
Register and pay for all shareware that you use regularly.
Install all security-related updates to your computer’s operating system.
Help a computer novice backup their files.
Protect all cabin computers from floating droplets of liquid.
Plan to attend a computer security meeting or seminar.
I will admit that the complexity level of my latest FreeNAS article has got to be the lowest it has ever been. This is a project that you can complete in under 10 seconds (I’m serious!). I wanted to give a quick tutorial on configuring FreeNAS for FTP access (with emphasis on quick).
Once you are done with this tutorial, you will have complete anonymous access to FreeNAS from any modern FTP client!
We are finally at that momentous point in our FreeNAS installation when we can actually put it to use. In Creating Windows Shares on FreeNAS, we walk through the process of exposing the FreeNAS disks to the Windows systems on the network. Once you have completed this tutorial, you will be able to save files on the FreeNAS server as if it were any other Windows system!
I ran across a blog entry on the ZDNet website and I was so inspired that I decided to write my own version of the blog and recount my own experience.
