In IP Addresses and Security, I wrote about how the Internet works — your computer has an IP address, your intended destination has an IP address, and both have to know and use the IP address of the other in order for communication to occur between them. The article was in response to a reader [...]

In every issue of my weekly online computer tips newsletter, I have my current security software recommendations. In that article, I write about the programs that I choose for antivirus, antispyware/antiadware, firewall and antispam. I also include a paragraph in the article on using a cable / DSL router. But, I guess I haven’t had [...]

Are you safe when you use the wireless network at your local coffee shop or airport? Maybe. Maybe not. Are you accidentally sharing your files on your computer? Is your computer “trusting” connection attempts from the other computers at the hostspot? A reader asked me To improve security when using Wi-Fi at a coffee shop [...]

Those of us with home networks usually share files, or at least printers, across our network. This nice feature allows several computers to share and use one or more printers. At my house, we share an HP Laserjet 1200 and an HP ColorJet printer. That way, any printer can print color pages when we need [...]

Update 2010 – This blog entry was originally posted in 2006 – folks, blogs are posts at specific dates. There was a 2008 – that’s “8″ — post – and, of course, that code has expired now, too.] – original post – Sunbelt has an unadvertised coupon sale that runs until 12 midnight, Eastern Standard [...]

Another neat feature of the Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall (my choice of firewall programs), is its two Intrusion Prevention systems. The free version includes the Network Intrusion Prevention System (NIPS) According to the program’s control screen: NIPS scans network traffic andblocks recognized attacks based on a database of known attack signatures. Network connecitons carrying detected [...]

A subscriber wrote me to ask about a warning that she received when she was installing a version of OpenOffice.org. Windows popped up a warning that the "Publisher could not be verified" and asked for confirmation on whether to allow the installation or not. This is a new Microsoft validation scheme that many publishers of [...]

Intrusion Detection is one of the computer concepts that has moved from the server world to the PC world. Our first step, though, is prevention — keeping intruders out of our computers. After years of total exposure of most Windows computers, Microsoft finally included a built-in software firewall in the original versions of Windows XP. [...]