Gaslamp Computers

Who do you want to know about the crazy party you went to last weekend?  Your grandparents?  Coworkers?  You might be sharing information about yourself on Facebook that you had not intended to share with everyone.  People have suffered embarrassment and, in some cases, lost their jobs because they did not thorougly audit their Facebook privacy settings.  Don't be the next victim.

This video will show you how to go through and restrict your Facebook privacy settings.  We recommend starting out with the most restrictive settings and then relaxing certain settings on a case-by-case basis.

Important Note:  The only way to keep information 100% private is to not share it at all.

Update on Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 11:15AM by Gaslamp Computers

Law enforcement, employers, spammers, and scammers have been known to create fake facebook profiles in order to gain information about particular people.  There is only one way to protect yourself from these potential threats. 

DO NOT friend people you do not know.

If you are currently friends with anyone you do not know personally, I recommend unfriending them immediately.  Failing to do so could compromise your privacy.

DVD Flick is a free and open source DVD authoring tool that allows you to take video files stored on your computer and turn them into a DVD.  It's very easy to use.  Simply add the files you'd like to put on your DVD, insert DVD into your DVD burner, and click Create DVD.

Use it to create and share DVDs of your home movies that less technical relatives can easily play on their home DVD players.

DVD Flick Guide

Over the past week there seems to have been an outbreak in a fake (rogue) antivirus product called Antivirus Live.  Fake AVs are nothing new.  They hijack the user's computer  until the user pays for the full version.  They are sometimes referred to as ransomware or extortionware.  Never purchase one of of these programs.  The people that create these programs are criminals and you don't want them to have your credit card information.

Antivirus Live is particularly nasty because it renders the infected computer almost useless.  It will produce a fake scan that shows dozens of fake infections.  This will be followed by numerous pop-ups telling the user to buy the program.  Internet traffic is redirected to the attacker's site.  Legitimate security software such as antivirus and malware scanners will not run and new programs can not be installed.

The best way to deal with one of these programs is to run an anti-virus scan from a live CD.  Avira offers a free one called Avira Rescue System.  If you're in the San Diego area,  call Gaslamp Computers at 619.793.5545 to remove Antivirus Live and learn how to prevent similar infections.

Never pay for scams like this.

Would you like to use your computer to help with cancer research?  solve complex math problems?  or look for life on other planets?  You can.

The technology that allows this is called grid computing.    Many research projects generate enormous amounts of raw data that they are simply unable to process themselves.  Grid computing combines the computing power of personal computers across the world to make a virtual supercomputer.   Since purchasing time on an actual supercomputer costs money, grid computing significantly lowers the cost of reasearch for projects that would otherwise be extremely expensive.

Here's how it works:

1. You decide what project(s) you want to be attached to.
2. That project sends a job to your computer over the internet.
3. Your computer uses its idle resources to work on the job.
4. Once completed, the job is sent back to the project and a new job is sent.

The great thing about the software is that it runs in the background without any interaction from you, the user.  You probably won't even know it's running.

Warning:  Running GridRepublic or any grid computing client can cause your computer to run hotter than normal.  If your computer has cooling issues, please do not run this software.

Note:  Your computer will consume slightly more power while running this software.  For a detailed explanation heat and energy considerations please see this page.

Software:

GridRepublic

OpenOffice is a free and open source office suite produced by Sun.  It's main commercial competitor is Microsoft Office.

• Word Processor -  OpenOffice Writer :: Microsoft Word
• Spreadsheet -  OpenOffice Calc :: Microsoft Excel
• Presentation - OpenOffice Impress ::  Microsoft PowerPoint
• Database - OpenOffice Base :: Microsoft Access
• Drawing - OpenOffice Draw ::  Microsoft Publisher
• Math -  OpenOffice Math

Compatiblity

OpenOffice is fully compatible with Microsoft Office documents.  So if your friends create a document in Microsoft Office, you will be able to open and edit it in OpenOffice. 

Functionality

The functionality of the two suites is very similar.  Most people won't know even notice a difference because OpenOffice can do almost everything that Microsoft Office can.

Price

OpenOffice is free and all of the updates are free.  It can be installed on any computer for free.  Microsoft Office ranges in price from ~$100 for the Home and Student version to $500+ for the Enterprise version.  You'll also need a license for each computer.  In a business with 5 computers, OpenOffice can easily save you over $1000 compared to Microsoft Office.

Conclusion

OpenOffice is one of the most polished examples of open source software.  It offers all the functionality of Microsoft Office for free.  There is simply no reason to spend the money on Microsoft Office unless you're an enterprise user.

Software:

OpenOffice