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Lyons Safari
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adsitelo.com Injection Malware |
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This morning many of our customers are reporting that a malware is attacking numerous websites by injecting a Javascript http://www.adsitelo.com/b.js code into the webpages. There are many variants of this attack, sometimes as advabnr.com.First of all, this is not a virus, and whether or not you use a tool like F-Secure, you may be infected. Secondly, the attacker is using an old defect in SQL Server/script interaction known as SQL Injection.  We have a fix! If you are infected, please bring your SQL Server Offline and contact us.
Read More Information provided by Breach Estimated Cost of Cleaning ASPROX Attack Depending on your application, the cleaning costs are extensive. Each database table has to be cleaned. An easier way for you might be to roll the database back to a point before the injection. Importantly, we will prevent this from happening again. This requires some architectural changes to your software scripts and application. Call us at 1-800-552-5554 to discuss your situation.
Viewed 248 Times | Feedback
Date Blogged: 6/14/2008 |
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Protecting Web Directories in Windows |
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Webmasters using Linux and Unix based systems for long have had the luxury of protecting some folders on a website with a password with a tool called .httpaccess Eventually Microsoft Windows based systems got this facility, although with a 3rd party tool like Plesk. But Plesk cost money. Further, with more and more VPS (Virtualized Servers) servers, the licensing by Parallels (the makers of Plesk) became complex and the system became unstable. Fortunately, HSPHERE, a common control panel provided by even the most elementary of hosting companies now provides a way to achieve this -- designate a part of the website only for pre-authorized users, protected by a login and password. Here are the steps: 1. Login to H-SPERE and create a "system account". It might be called "FTP Account". We are going to use this as a "group account". 2. The trick is associating this Windows account and mapping it correctly to the Web Folder. So when it asks you:
"Web directory path relative to the user home", please specify the name of the web-folder preceded by the domain name, and separated with a / 3. Now go to "Web Directories and Web Applications" (this is under Domains -> Service Settings) and add a new Web Directory, choose protected. Why is it so hard for Microsoft to learn from other brilliant engineers?
More Information
• Link at GoDaddy on how to password protect a Windows folder
Viewed 358 Times | Feedback
Date Blogged: 5/26/2008 |
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Yahoo Getting Greedy |
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Yahoo Jacking Up Prices for Domains from July 1 Just got word that Yahoo is increasing its prices for domain name renewals by 250%. They used to charge $9.95/year. Now Yahoo says they will start charging $34.95/year For a 100% self-managed service, we think it is a rip-off.
Viewed 371 Times | Feedback
Date Blogged: 5/23/2008 |
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Generosity of a Customer |
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During the course of our business, we run into all kinds of problems, challenges, and experiences. We don't name our customers or disclose specific challenges they are having, to honor the trust customers have in us. Yet, this week we are so moved by the generosity of one of our customers that we decided to recognize him, because he humbled us with his innocence and magnanimity. Mr. Eliseo Lopez recently bought a new computer -- one that is faster and more capable, and he didn't need the old computer anymore. Most people will retire the old one, give it to relatives, or donate to charities. But they do so "as is". Nobody in our experience of all these years of business has spent money to make a used computer "nice", so it can be donated to a good family. But Mr. Lopez spent about $250 to clean up the machine, update it and then asked us to donate it away (perspective: you can buy a new computer today for that price).
So Many Morals in this Story:
- Even if it costs more to recycle, it is better to repair and reuse than to
buy new. This is a profound message.
- The joy of giving should be experienced without an expectation of
gratitude from the recipient.
- Mr. Lopez was a POW during the Second World War. We are told that even after the war had ended, the Japanese continued to enslave him for a couple of months in the chaos. No wonder we call them the "Greatest Generation".
Viewed 411 Times | Feedback
Date Blogged: 5/19/2008 |
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Karma Points Reward Engine |
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Our programmers are busy implementing a Karma Points Software for a Social Network, and it has been fascinating going through the brain-storming sessions. The basic rule is this: A member does something good, he or she gets some Karma-Points. Features of Our Points Calculation Engine A member does an objectionable activity, they are subtracted. The members get a detailed statement in realtime on how they can increase the points (like Frequent Flier Miles). There are rewards that can be exchanged for points. You can control the activity (called Karma) and the reward (called Points) via an admin interface. Specimen Applications We have a customer who wants to use this application as a reward program for employee motivation. Every time an employee gets a compliment from a customer, they are given 10 Good Karma Points. A grievance against the employee results in subtracting 1000 points. People who make 10,000 get a trip to Hawaii. We can't wait to see the results!
Viewed 435 Times | Feedback
Date Blogged: 5/16/2008 |
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How to Downgrade Vista to Windows XP |
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Downgrading Windows Vista to Windows XP We have lots of customers who are frustrated with Windows Vista and constantly ask how they can downgrade to Windows XP. The answer to this is rather complicated and must be answered on a case-by-case basis. However, here is a summary. If you bought your Vista computer at Walmart, BestBuy or Circuit city or other consumer electronics store, you are out of luck. You cannot downgrade. Your only choice is to buy a retail version of XP (costing between $60 to $199 depending on version) and completely wipe out Vista and perform a re-install. If you bought your Vista computer from Costco or other business class supplier (like ourselves at Lyons Computers), and have Vista Ultimate or Vista Business, you can downgrade it by calling Microsoft and requesting Windows XP Profession Downgrade Disk. If you bought 64 Bit version of Vista, please return it and get a refund. We are experiencing that lots of devices (such as printers) and business applications are not running on Vista64. Links to other Articles:
• ComputerWorld Article on Vista to XP
• CNET on XP Alternative to Vista
• Washington Post on Possible Microsoft Plan to Retire Vista in favor of Upgraded XP (called Windows 7)
Viewed 554 Times | Feedback
Date Blogged: 4/30/2008 |
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How to Turn off Beep Alerts on Dell PowerEdge Servers |
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The following instructions are to turn of serious-level alarms on a DELL PowerEdge Server. Do not get confused with muting Windows Sound devices!!!! These non-stop beeps are occurring on the server because something bad has happened. Depending on the tone and delay of the beep, it means something different. The following instruction is to turn off sound when one of the hard-drives in a RAID has failed Open Dell OpenManage software and go to the Array Manager. Drill down to the Array of disks to find out the specific disk that is failing. You can tell this by a red or a warning icon. The right click and choose properties, and turn off the alarm. Attention: Birmingham AL area customers, you need help diagnosing problems with your HP or DELL servers, please call our office (205)251-5966 to schedule a server technician on site. We know of lots of cases when customer self-diagnosed a problem, ordered the wrong parts, and suffered extended down times.
Viewed 849 Times | Feedback
Date Blogged: 4/11/2008 |
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What is Data Slurping |
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Slurping or "Data Leakage" is a new form of data security problem happening in many companies where critical data is being stolen or lost accidentally or maliciously by the means of portable devices such as Bluetooth devices and USB thumb drives. An Example: You are at a client's site with your laptop and gave a presentation. The client is impressed and asks for the presentation on a thumb drive to show it to her boss. You do not want the presentation to break because of missing files or attachments and copy all the files that you think are needed for the client from your My Documents folder. And one of the files you accidentally copy is an employee review file or a quote you made to a competitor of the client. This is data slurping. Don't Plug that USB Thumb Drive You Found! With the advent of the U3 Drives -- you know where you stick in a USB device, and some program runs to make things happen, there are also bad guys who write these programs, load them on U3 drives and leave them in competitor's parking lots. Some employee will eventually find them, and by human curiosity, they will plug them in. Guess what, at the blink of an eye, either the computer is infected, or some critical data is stolen. Symantec reports that this is becoming a common trick of fraudsters. We encourage all our customers to be aware of Data Slurping and risks associated with it.
Viewed 767 Times | Feedback
Date Blogged: 3/26/2008 |
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BarCamp Coming to Birmingham Again |
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Soon, The Second Edition of Barcamp will be held in Birmingham. For those who don't know, BarCamps are informal events to meet other geeks locally. They are very participatory -- you are expected both to speak as well as listen. When: April 12, 2008
Location: TBA Jim and Nick's and Innovation Depot. Meet us at Barcamp Birmingham!
Viewed 1113 Times | Feedback
Date Blogged: 2/23/2008 |
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Error While Opening Local HTML files with Firefox on Vista |
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We spent so much time investigating this error, and thought we would document it for the benefit of others. Symptom On many flavors of Windows Vista, if the default browser is Firefox, sometimes you get the error message: "Windows cannot find: ---some local html file-- : Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again" Solution on Windows XP This problem happened before. On Windows XP systems, you could delete the DDE registry keys as described here. But DDE is not available on Windows Vista. What gives? To fix this problem on Vista machines, follow these steps:
1. Associate HTM and HTML files to FireFox. This is no longer in Tools->File Types as in XP, but has been moved to Default Programs in Control Panel. 2. Open Registry, and look for an entry called FireFox Document. In its Open command, remove the DDE entry.
Viewed 1170 Times | Feedback
Date Blogged: 1/27/2008 12:16:23 PM |
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