Work produced by our staff http://www.AlanBonnici.com General articles about security (and not) and about computers (and not) of a serious nature (and not). en Copyright 2008 chribonn@gmail.com (Alan C. Bonnici) http://www.AlanBonnici.com/images/article_index.jpghttp://www.AlanBonnici.com Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:48:16 GMT Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:48:16 GMT RSS DreamFeeder v 2.5.2 In my entry titled “How to backup your Microsoft Office 2007 Outlook in its entirety (Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7)” I described how to backup the Microsoft Outlook 2007 data file together with that part of the Windows registry that stores within it the email accounts from where Outlook retrieves emails or via which emails are sent out. Today I discuss how to use that backed up information to either recover a failed computer or to transfer the settings from one computer to another. The former may happen if the hard disk fails or as a result of a malware attack while the latter would apply if you are upgrading your computer or operating system. On your freshly formatted computer you need to install Microsoft Outlook. http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/RestoreOutlook2007.asp Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:57:24 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/RestoreOutlook2007.asp.1271346495737.1 Many people use Microsoft Outlook to download mail from their POP3 or IMAP server. While some may only link their Outlook to one particular email, many today have multiple email account all pouring into the same data file. Backing up Microsoft Outlook consists essentially of backing up two different components; the pst file that stores messages (or in the case of IMAP a cached version of the server) together with the registry entry that stores all the different email accounts that are being processed by Outlook. The folk who decided on the default location of the Outlook data file chose a location that is difficult to figure out. Also when installing Outlook (or when running it for the first time) there is no way to specify a different http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/BackupOutlook2007.asp Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:29:24 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/BackupOutlook2007.asp.1271346495737.2 Giving is one of the noblest deeds a person can do to another. Be it money, time, material goods or life-saving products such as blood, the knowledge that you are helping someone is great for both the giver as well as the receiver. This year you can add another form of giving to your list; donate your computing resources. This is possible thanks to a branch known as distributed computing.Distributed computing consists of multiple autonomous computers that communicate through the internet. The computers interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal. There are many distributed computing projects you can participate in. The largest project is called Folding@Home. This project is managed by the University of Stanford. It deals with research in protein folding and contributes http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/DonateYourComputerResources.asp Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:28:24 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/DonateYourComputerResources.asp.1268063386944.15 The New York Times ran the story “Nokia Profits Rises on Smartphone Sales and Cost-Cutting”. The story said that Nokia had performed better than expected and had registered a profit. Researching further reveals that while there was an increase of 22 percent on the previous quarter, year on year the company is 19% under. You might say it’s been a tough year for everyone, but has it? Apple has posted record sales. Suffice to say that Apple has doubled the sales of mobile phones over the span of a year. And RIM, the company behind the BlackBerry is fairing as positively as Apple if not better.When we start comparing like with like, the Nokia story is no longer as rosy as it might appear at first. And one http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/NokiaInFive.asp Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:05:24 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/NokiaInFive.asp.1268063386944.7 “President Obama is a worthless president. His health care bill is downright dumb and his foreign policy sucks. The only president who came close to being worth something was George W. Bush.” I can make such a statement because I live in a democracy. Not everyone has this luxury. In some countries, such a statement directed at the ruling president of the country can land me in jail if I am lucky, on the missing person's list if I’m not. The internet is brimming with content and anyone with an internet connection can, in a matter of minutes, get information on any topic. Newsgroups, chat programs, forums and social networks allow people to interact with others to discuss issues, publicize causes and voice opinions. The internet, if unchecked, http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/TorNetwork.asp Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:58:24 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/TorNetwork.asp.1268063386944.13 CAPTCHA codes are designed to determine whether a form was submitted by a human being rather than an automated process. CAPTCHA stands for Complete Automated Public Turing test to tell Computer and Humans Apart, It is probably one of those acronyms in which the acronym preceded the words that make it up. It was coined in 2000 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas J. Hopper and John Langford.Before the advent of CAPTCHA mechanisms, webmasters would only require a username and a password. A valid user would enter the correct credentials and make it to the page for logged in users, while an invalid set of credentials would keep the person stuck on the login page.Someone wanting to gain illegal access to a web portal could do so http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/captchacodes.asp Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:30:24 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/captchacodes.asp.1268063386944.2 Even with today’s ultra fast fibre optic data lines, the tangible throughput people actually get when transferring files is still functionally limited. This is compounded further by the fact that the majority of uses have low upload speeds compared to higher download speeds. For example a typical home internet connection would promise 4Mbit download while only 256Kbit would be allocated for upload. To make matters worse, today files are many times larger than their ancestors. If your hair has greyed (or fallen off) in sufficient quantities, you probably recall a time when a 1.2MB floppy disk would hold all your documents as well as the word processing program itself with space to spare. This thousand word document is over 6 times larger than that floppy disk!In this environment, http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/RsyncATopViewIntroduction.asp Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:16:24 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/RsyncATopViewIntroduction.asp.1268063386944.9 You may not know Sgt Troy Dally; you probably never attended Pastor Michael Guisande sermons; Cassie Bond is probably not listed as a friend on your Facebook, MySpace or Hi5 page and 21 year old Mark Leatham rings no bell. These are four people who have had their computer stolen. Troy’s laptop computer and external hard disk were in a backpack that went missing; Pastor Guisande’s computer was stolen from his church; Cassie and Mark suffered a similar predicament.Hop over to http://www.backupmyhost.com/blog/?p=17 blog for the rest of this story. Author: Alan C. BonniciEmail: chribonn@gmail.comURL: http:// by Alan C. Bonnici is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.Based on a work at . http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/MeetTroy.asp Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:06:24 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/MeetTroy.asp.1268063386944.4 Last week I decided to unpack yet another box I had carried over to my new house almost a year ago. The thing with the last remaining boxes is that these contain the non essential bits and pieces, the memorabilia and stuff that was either passed down to me or which was prevalent in my life many years ago. Opening these boxes isn’t an act of simply unpacking and sorting stuff but one of reminiscing through my and my ancestry’s past. This box contained photos taken during the 60s and 70s. And I always thought that only punk rockers had funny hair styles!Hop over to http://www.backupmyhost.com/blog/?p=3 blog for the rest of this story. Author: Alan C. BonniciEmail: chribonn@gmail.comURL: http:// by Alan C. Bonnici is licensed under a Creative http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/UncleBertrandAndAuntieLucy.asp Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:35:24 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/UncleBertrandAndAuntieLucy.asp.1268063386944.6 Electronic Piracy (I will refer to it as piracy in this document) is the unauthorized use of material that is or can be digitized. This material is covered by copyright law. Copyright gives the copyright owner exclusive rights to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works. Piracy in the context being discussed here is not limited to illegally obtaining material without a copyright holder’s permission, but also covers aspects—some of which may be included in the wider definition of copyright—such as making multiple copies of material for own use, sharing material with family, friends and complete strangers, ownership of acquired material, converting of material between different formats for different devices and watching material that cannot be legally obtained by any other way. The RIAA http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/IsElectronicPiracyBad.asp Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:35:24 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/IsElectronicPiracyBad.asp.1268063386944.3 The Maltese roads have, from time to time, come under the scrutiny of experts. The experts come up with ways to make our roads more safe, efficient or both. The latest example of this manifests itself in the fact that a large number of Maltese “highways” now carry a 60km/h speed limit; 20km less than the national limit. Go over that limit and a little birdie will take a photo that will cost you dearly. A considerable number of people have voiced concern about this ridiculous limit and are arguing that if the national speed limit is currently set at 80km/h, than these roads should have the 60km signs replaced by 80km.These are some of the topics that have been raised. It is true that 60km/h is less http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/SlowingANation-MalteseSpeedLimits.asp Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:18:24 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/SlowingANation-MalteseSpeedLimits.asp.1268063386944.11 What a courageous title especially when the world as we have comfortably gotten used to is heading for an unprecedented roller coaster ride no one has ever experienced before. With daily news of businesses going into administration, reducing the workforce, asking for government assistance or declaring bleak outcomes, everything seems far from great. This downturn is taking place at a grandiose macroeconomic scale as, for the first time since the First World War, we read of entire developed countries being on the apparent verge of bankruptcy. It makes us, the man in the street, wonder about the qualifications, foresight and abilities of the elite few who were paid millions in salaries, bonuses and perks to manage some of the institutions making the headlines. The same reasoning applies to http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/SELL.asp Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:38:24 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/SELL.asp.1268063386944.10 My name is Tom Mull and in a few hours I will be dead. In the time I have left I’ll jot down my story both to pass the time until the alarm sounds and in the hope that someone would read this story and get to know me better. Since time is the limiting factor in this recount, I’ll cut the chase and get down to the story. I am the son of a contract between two sexually functional adults. On the one hand was my father, a filthy rich lawyer whose occupation was to singlehandedly manage an empire. All his efforts were dedicated exclusively towards cultivating the family-run activities ensuring that they escalated to new heights. He was the type of businessman who had enough financial http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/MindToAcheive.asp Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:20:43 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/MindToAcheive.asp.1268063386944.5 The personal data of every citizen of a small country consisting of SSN or ID number as well as passport reference, name, address, date of birth, phone, email, credit card and bank account numbers, utility and driving license details and a dozen other items of information require less than the storage capacity available on a single DVD-ROM disk. With the data listed here one can impersonate a person, send out mail shots (electronic, telephonic and paper), use credit cards to effect purchases or perform demographic analysis on the data. Most of the information listed above can be sold to hackers and spammers for good money if one knows where to go. While a DVD-ROM disk is a medium familiar to many, it is not the most compact. Eight http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/ProtectingData.asp Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:27:24 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/ProtectingData.asp.1268063386944.8 On July 1, 2008 the only copy of Windows XP you can legally purchase is one that is still lying on a shop shelf. On June 30, 2008 Microsoft will no longer provide OEM and shrink-wrapped versions of this operating system. Six months later, the Dells and Hewlett Packards as well as the lesser known setups of this world will not be able to bundle Windows XP with new computers. Officially the big guys have stopped pushing this operating system, but following the insistence of many of their larger accounts, they quietly succumbed to the pressure. As from January 1, 2009 they will no longer be able to sell a computer running Windows XP.Windows XP is Microsoft’s best operating system to date. It is stable, fast, nice and http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/WhyMicrosoftShouldNotWithdrawWindowsXP.asp Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:15:19 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/WhyMicrosoftShouldNotWithdrawWindowsXP.asp.1268063386944.16 You might be tempted to have a go at your first online purchase. This may be because you have friends and relatives living abroad. Postage costs a lot and so it makes sense to purchase a gift from a shop close to its final destination. You may feel envious when you listen to others recounting stories of goods purchased for a fraction of their retail price. That group of online shoppers from work who gather round the water cooler, comparing bargains they just found makes you feel left out. Also, the realization that the groovy limited edition purple cell phone with orange backlit display and the Swarovski crystal buttons is only available online meaning that if you would like to own it, you have to take the plunge. http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/TheCompleteGuideToOnlinePurchases.asp Sat, 24 May 2008 14:26:24 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/TheCompleteGuideToOnlinePurchases.asp.1268063386944.12 You do not need any medication to get to your desired destination and going cold turkey is the most effective method of doing this. Before you embark on this journey you should arm yourself with some information that will help you along the way:The true benefits of quitting manifest themselves when you and those close to you start noticing that you are leading a more enjoyable and active lifestyle. The exclusions induced by smoking simply evaporate.Author: Alan C. BonniciEmail: chribonn@gmail.comURL: http:// by Alan C. Bonnici is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.Based on a work at . http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/NaturalWaysToQuitSmoking.asp Sat, 24 May 2008 06:08:24 GMT Alan C. Bonnici http://www.AlanBonnici.com/articles/NaturalWaysToQuitSmoking.asp.1268063386944.14