Dec 01 2011
A nice inforgraphic showing how Skype is used (click image to see larger version):
Look Who's Talking (Copyright Skype)
I think that the image originally came from Tony Bates Weighs in on Microsoft’s Acquisition of Skype.
Comments Off
Nov 27 2011
I recently got multiple phone calls on my landline from a support agent working for a “Microsoft Support Company” in Djibouti. The exact phone number used each time was +253 820 308, and the support agent knew my family name (it is available in the telephone directory). The support agent told me that she could see from her system that my computer was infected, and she was going to help me! Great!
Of course this is a scam, and I have heard of it many times. Unfortunately, not everybody knows this, and I know somebody who was conned in this way.
I had never received such a call before, so the mischievous streak in me decided to play along with the support agent :) I must stress that I knew what I was doing, and in general I would not recommend this! I was also curious to know exactly how the scam worked.
I made myself look like the ideal target for the support agent, because I claimed not to know much about how computers work, and I was very eager to pay for the support agent to fix my problem. I was not doing anything that required too much concentration at the time, so I was willing to waste the support agent’s time. In the end our conversations spanned three phone calls, and lasted for about an hour and twenty minutes in total.
The way the scam works is that the support agent firstly tries to get the victim’s confidence. So I was told about the dangers of computer viruses, and how easy it is to become infected. I agreed with this, and we spent several minutes discussing this. I then confirmed that I had been feeling tired and run-down recently, so I suspected that I had indeed got a virus from my computer. This caused another lengthy explanation :D
Next the support agent gets the victim to download some software that allows the support agent to remotely control the victim’s computer. This took more than half an hour to achieve for a variety of reasons. I was given many instructions for trying to start my Internet browser (such as Ctrl + R, Start + All Programs), but none of them appeared to work. The support agent was becoming frustrated at this stage, so I innocently asked her when I should turn on my computer :D
Over the next half hour the support agent got me to download remote access software from the following web sites:
I do not know if these are legitimate sites or not. Regardless, in each I was asked to download an executable file, and then run it. Much to the support agent’s frustration, the files kept producing errors when I tried running them. I offered several times to pay her there and then by credit card (using a test number of course) for her to fix the problem, but she told me that I needed to run the software first. I helpfully suggested that it was probably due to the virus, but the support agent dismissed this idea :o In hindsight, it was probably because I was using Ubuntu :D
At this stage the customer support agent had to consult with a colleague (for the second time). By the time that she phoned me back I was bored of her, so I told her than I had bought a new computer since the last call. The dismay in voice was noticeable!
The moral of the story – if you get one of these calls you are probably best to tell the support agent that you do not have a computer!
Comments Off
Sep 21 2011
I recently read an interesting article about a Windows compatible operating system called ReactOS. (The article is Russian President Medvedev asked to fund Windows clone.) There is also more useful information in ReactOS.
It is an interesting idea, and I can see the benefits to having such an operating system. However, I do not think that Microsoft needs to start worrying yet ;)
Comments Off
Aug 30 2011
I started using Firefox 6.0 about two weeks ago. (I realise now that it was less than four months ago when I started using Firefox 4.0 according to Firefox 4. What happened that Firefox 5.0 was so brief?)
The feature that I find most interesting is the new Panorama (see Firefox Features or Firefox Panorama: The Web browser’s next big innovation). I am still getting used to it, but I am hoping that I can use it to de-clutter my Task Bar.
The most controversial aspect in my opinion is that the Startup page reverts to “Show my windows and tabs from last time” by default. I really wonder how many people will be caught-out because they were browsing sites they should not have been when they became interupted, so they closed the browser not realising that Firefox will restore everything when the browser is restarted! It could be very embarrassing!
Comments Off
Jun 20 2011
Somebody recently showed me how to merge Microsoft Word documents that have been reviewed by several different people! See Merge comments and changes from several documents into 1 document and Compare and combine documents in Word 2007.
I could have saved so much time if I had know this for the last six months!
Jun 17 2011
Recently I read a fascinating story about the origin of the bit and software:
Tukey is also credited in the “Annals of the History of Computers” as the person who, in 1946, coined the word “bit”, a contraction of “binary digit”, the term describing the 1s and 0s that are the basis of computer programs. Tukey suggested the shorter “bit” to computer experts at AT&T Bell Laboratories, where he was a researcher. “Bit” was easier on the tongue than the other possibilities they were considering, such as “binit” and “bigit”, so it stuck. Twelve years later, Tukey came up with the word “software” to describe the programs on which electronic calculators ran, first using it in a 1958 article he wrote for American Mathematical Monthly.
The source of this is Patent Law for Computer Scientists by Closa, D., Gardiner, A., Giemsa, F., Machek, J.
For more information see John Wilder Tukey.
Comments Off
Jun 02 2011
Microsoft has been demonstrating Windows 8, and there is plenty of reporting online. For example, see Windows 8 Brings Entirely New Look And Feel, Unifies Touch And PC Interfaces and Windows 8 Is Gorgeous, But Is It More Than Just A Shell? (Video) (the latter has a good video).
I do not see how a single operating system can span so many different types of devices, and I think it is likely that they will end up with the worst of all worlds! Maybe I am too sceptical!
May 06 2011
I started using Firefox 4 today. It has been a good experience so far!
Perhaps the most noticeable difference so far is that the user interface is very different. I was going to revert it back to the previous layout, as described in Three annoying things about Firefox 4 (and how to fix them). However, then I decided to leave it. I guess that somebody put a lot of thought into the changes, so the least I could do was try them for a day :)
By the end of the day I had decided that the new layout was better ;)
Comments Off
Apr 13 2011
I upgraded my VirtualBox to the latest version (4.0.4) last weekend. Everything seemed fine.
Yesterday afternoon I paused a virtual machine for the first time this week, and last night I tried to resume it. To my horror it would not start, and I kept getting the following error:
Failed to open a session for the virtual machine Windows 7. Implementation of the USB 2.0 controller not found! Because the USB 2.0 controller state is part of the saved VM state, the VM cannot be started. To fix this problem, either install the 'Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack' or disable USB 2.0 support in the VM settings (VERR_NOT_FOUND). Unknown error creating VM (VERR_NOT_FOUND).
After a few minutes of panicking I discovered that this is a known bug, as described in Ticket #8182 Unexpected error about USB 2.0!. Luckily, the described fix worked perfectly for me :D
Comments Off
Jan 15 2011
I read during the week that Skype has become the world’s largest international call provider! That is amazing, and it certainly must be concerning the traditional telcos! For more information see CES 2011: Skype Steals International Scene.
I am aware that Skype had a serious outage before Christmas, but luckily it did not affect me. The $1 credit was a nice apology!
During Christmas I had the opportunity to use Skype for video calls on the latest version of the iPod Touch, and I was extremely impressed with both the quality and the ease of use. It was a much better experience than I imagined, and I could easily get used to doing all my calls like that!
Comments Off
