Cost

When dealing with Blu-Ray on computers, we’re looking more into using this medium as a storage device over a video viewing device. Geeks, like myself, do watch media on our computers but the general public does not. We all, however, do use our computers as an information storage device. The amount of information that can be stored on a Blu-Ray disk was actually one of the selling points of the medium. This, along with Sony’s marketing powerhouse (with Hollywood Support), is probably what drove HD-DVD out of the market. So, our cost comparisons below are only going to show the duel layer BD’s (Blu-ray Disk), because the 25GB single layer disks are too small for the files we’ll want to use with this storage medium. According to several leading hardware sales locations, if I wanted to begin backing up information today this is what I’ll be spending:

• Blu-Ray Burner: $150 (LG) – $200 (Pioneer)
• BD-r 50GB: $150 (10 Pack – Verbatim) or $20 (1 Pack – Sony)

So, to store our first 50GB of information we’re already looking at a price tag of $170, using the lowest priced BD-rw and a single 50GB duel layer BD.

The standard hard drive has come a long way from it’s roots. There are many different styles, sizes and speeds all competing for your money. Also, with the technological introductions of USB and Solid-State drives, we’re seeing even faster price drops on the latest (sometimes greatest) hard drives. 1TB (terabyte, or 1,000 gigabytes) drives are now running around the $75-$100 price tag for the standard 7200rpm drive. Some 2TB drives, distributed by companies such as Toshiba and Seagate, are coming in around the $150 mark. To achieve the back-up potential of one of these hard drives (1TB model), you’d need to burn 20.48 disks of information. If you were to use the Verbatim disks (round down from 20.48 to 20, and assume Verbatim disks have a 100% success rate) you’d need to spend around $450. With that $450, you could of backed up nearly 6TB of information on internal hard drives; or slightly less for external hard drives.

After trying to get Windows 7 to install, XP Pro to install, and after that Ubuntu (even Ubuntu failed) on an older Windows laptop, I gave up. Each one had a different bitchy reason as to why it would refuse to install. After a few hours of trying every trick in the book I basically said f it. I had really hoped Windows 7 would have installed, because I think its a GREAT effort from Microsoft, best they’ve done since XP dropped over 8 years ago. Cest la vie.

I guess my Mac-hating was pretty justified over the years, but now theres no reason to not consider one from Apple. The software compatibility / availability is pretty on par now, and Leopard OSX 10.5+ REALLY flies compared to their older versions. I went with the white 2.0 ghz core duo and added 4 GB of ram into it. I wasn’t concerned really about a 13″ screen (its pretty big and viewable), at home I hook it into my 52″ LCD if I need to see more.

Being 64 bit, Leopard can handle every bit of that RAM too. 32 bit OS like XP and Vista cannot use more than 3GB of ram, which was always a point of stupidity to me. Why would software have such a limitation? Now I can run what I want without worrying that I am going to run out of memory. It has BootCamp standard, which means I could install XP/Vista if I chose to for dual boot purposes. Like if I needed to use something in Windows.

Honestly? I haven’t even reached for an install disc, and I don’t think I am going to. I am even considering getting a 24″ iMac this year to replace my aging desktop.

Pete and I have a feeling Microsoft will be on the way out in the next 5 or 10 years. It takes forever to explain, but using another OS for an hour like OSX or Ubuntu and its clearer to see why; it all just works.

LAMP stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP (or Perl or Python). Used together, they represent the most popular and most powerful form of web servers and website hosting.

All of our websites are hosted on LAMP servers, even Adobe Coldfusion based websites (where normally Coldfusion Server is best set for a Windows Server environment).

Why should your website be LAMP powered (or at least hosted on Linux)? Read on »

The benefits of running on LAMP are monumental versus a Windows Server. Response time, stability, and uptime all increase tenfold on a Linux server, such as Fedora Core 9, CentOS 5 or RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). A Windows based server running IIS (Internet Information Services) most likely sees a reboot at least once a month or more, as its memory and CPU usage pale in comparison to a Linux operating system. Over time, Windows’ resource mismanagement causes system degradation. Even home users are aware of this phenomenon with a Windows machine. After 6 months on a new PC, it doesn’t feel so new anymore, and generally feels sluggish and worse as time progresses (without preventative care and maintenance of course). Taking user operator error out of the picture, a Linux server could run for a year or more without the need for a reboot, update, or upgrade. More uptime percentage for you, less downtime for clients and potential customers on your website. Whatever you throw at Linux, it can handle.

MySQL Database server is extremely popular, powerful and free used on massive websites like Digg, Slashdot, Suzuki, YouTube, Wordpress, Google, Yahoo!, and most Web 2.0 applications. Being open source grants the additional benefit of a large user community dedicated to making it even better as well as patching any exploits that may arise far quicker than a giant like Microsoft. Other technologies like Windows SQL Server are proprietary, closed source and can cost thousands. It also locks you into Sysbase-db type, where MySQL gives you a handful of database formats to pick from (InnoDB, MyISAM, Berkeley, etc). There are many case studies available that detail why MySQL is better than the ‘big dogs’ of data management. Again, speed, reliability, and response time are key here, and is a reason why MySQL is extremely popular.

Apache HTTP provides lightening quick request handling and a slew of features. Apache has been the most popular web server on the Internet since April 1996. Apache is also designed to work with a wide range of languages by directly incorporating the language interpreter into the Apache environment. This significantly speeds up the execution of dynamic components for languages like PHP, Perl, and Python, thus making your website faster than on other systems. It can also be run under Linux or Windows, where IIS is Windows only, thus locking you to Windows Server should you want to use IIS. Click here for a more detailed comparison. Tighter security? Check. A properly configured Apache / Linux server can keep anything out. Maybe even water.

So, what are you running on? Thinking about switching?

Inclind, Inc offers full IT Services and consulting for a wide array of technologies including Linux operating systems, Windows operating systems, Windows Server, Exchange, network administration, PBX and Asterisk phone systems, IP based phone systems, databases, server management performance tweaking, PHP web applications, Coldfusion web applications and more.

For more information call us today at 302-856-2802.

There are lots of retail software suites that can accomplish the basic protection you need for your computer. But lets take a look at some free offerings that you can find on the internet that can do just as good of a job and be used in conjunction with Norton type packages, adding an additional 60-80% more protection.

Firstly, lets start at the largest point of entry on your computer other than your inbox, the browser. Most people unwittingly use Internet Explorer, since it comes packaged in with Windows. Version 6 (XP) and to an extent, version 7 (XP/Vista) are very lacking when it comes to protection from spyware and adware on the internet. Those open to change should switch to Firefox, the best browser in town and second most installed browser on computers in the world (and that number is climbing by the day). Firefox is totally free and will let you install plugins made by users, and this is where the value lies.

From the plugins page, search or look for the following plugins:

AdBlock Plus – Ever been annoyed by all those ads and banners on the internet that often take longer to download than everything else on the page? Install Adblock Plus now and get rid of them.

With this plugin installed, right-click on a banner and choose “Adblock” from the context menu – the banner won’t be downloaded again. Maybe even replace parts of the banner address with star symbols to block similar banners as well. Or you select a filter subscription when Adblock Plus starts up the first time, then even this simple task will usually be unnecessary: the filter subscription will block most advertisements fully automatically.

NoScript – Winner of the “2006 PC World World Class Award”, this tool makes Firefox the safest browser around.

Winner of the “2006 PC World World Class Award”, this tool provides extra protection to your Firefox.

It allows JavaScript, Java and other executable content to run only from trusted domains of your choice, e.g. your home-banking web site, and guards the “trust boundaries” against cross-site scripting attacks (XSS).

Such a preemptive approach prevents exploitation of security vulnerabilities (known and even unknown!) with no loss of functionality.

KeyScrambler Personal – KeyScrambler Personal encrypts your keystrokes at the kernel driver level to protect your login information from keyloggers.

When you type on your keyboard, the keys travel along a path within the operating system before it arrives at your browser. Keyloggers plant themselves along this path and observe and record your keystrokes. The collected information is then sent to the criminals who will use it to steal from you.

KeyScrambler defeats keyloggers by encrypting your keystrokes at the keyboard driver level, deep within the operating system. When the encrypted keystrokes reach your browser, KeyScrambler then decrypts them so you see exactly the keys you’ve typed. Keyloggers can only record the encrypted keys, which are completely indecipherable.

Unlike anti-virus and anti-spyware programs that depend on recognition to remove keyloggers that they know about, KeyScrambler will protect you from both known and unknown keyloggers. What’s more, KeyScrambler provides protection without getting in your way. You don’t have anything to learn about the program and you don’t have to do anything differently, but with KeyScrambler your important personal information will be a whole lot safer.

Why are these important? AdBlock Plus will allow you to filter out advertisements of any type on the websites you visit. Some advertisements, like Google Ads and Google AdSense, are harmless and their intent is just that, an advertisement. However, there are more sinister companies out there that create advertisements that look like real advertisements, and when you click and follow it to the website, any number of things could happen. You could be installing spyware, adware, or just had personal information phished from you. Popular phishing methods try to mimic familiar advertisements or alerts. The most typical type of phishing alert is something that looks like a standard Windows dialogue box that states ‘Click Here To Protect Your Pc Now!’. The average user tends to click on this, since it looks so much like anything else Windows would tell you in a dialouge box. With combined efforts of AdBlock Plus and NoScript, you can effectively eliminate 80% of these malicious efforts to infect your computer. NoScript allows you to permit/block websites at the domain level to run scripts, like Javascript, which is another method used in order to get into your machine.

So far, you’ve invested $0.00 in protecting your computer. Not bad, huh?

Next, try to monitor your browsing habits and those that use the computer, such as family members or friends. If they tend to visit popular sites like MySpace, CollegeHumor and the like, its possible they could run into malicious ads or phishing attempts. MySpace in particular is a hotbed of activity for spam, spyware, adware, virii, and phishing with hundreds of accounts getting hijacked daily. One of the most frequent ways this starts is by using template generator sites for your layout, or clicking images or ads in another persons generated layout. Some providers of these have malicious intent when deploying, in order to gain access to MySpace accounts for even more phishing and scam campaigns. You should educate those in your household that have internet access to sites like these.

If you use services online like Amazon, PayPal, or eBay, a simple email over MySpace could give away your personal information in under a second. You can use the plugins above as methods of stopping these attempts.

Typically, you can tell that you are getting a fake/spam email on an online web service like MySpace or YouTube one of the following ways:

1. It is from someone you don’t know (this alone should throw up a mental flag).
2. It is from someone you know, but sounds very cryptic / message is all jibberish with links.
3. It is from someone you know, but it doesn’t sound like ‘them’. i.e. they beg you to click on a link, or urge you to try out a strange website.
4. The content is something like “I got $50 Off Instantly By Clicking Here!”, with an image, or link.

Your computer security, online privacy, and identity are very important and it is critical to keep them in check. I hope you take some of the advice listed here to heart, because identity theft / fraud is the fastest growing crime in the world. You can take steps to prevent it from happening to you.