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The Register Goes down, People are asking is it the Conficker Worm?

PaulApril 1, 2009

I’ve heard stories from other Twitter Folks about it being Denial of Service attack:

[ad#cricket-right-ez]

Now it is possible to have[intlink id=”3236″ type=”post”] Conficker to all botnets[/intlink] to try to go to the site but I am not certian it is the Conficker. It could be as simple as someone misconfigured a server and no one can get to it. People who want to check out what people on twitter are saying can search for it and see for yourself. I’ll update as needed when I find out more, but it will probably be a couple of hours before the site is back up, according to some reports. I’ll know more later today, so keep tune.

Update at 6:30pm EST

We speculate that the source of the problem may have been a large scale Denial of Service attack against UltraDNS, or an internal operations problem. When we were able to sucessfully query UltraDNS servers, responses were slow to come back, or largely timed out. The problem began to clear itself up around 10:00 am Eastern, when we saw DNS responses returning quickly again, and our favorite sites coming back online.
[Via DynamicNetwork Service Inc.]

It looks like this might of been the cause for Amazon, and some other sites including the Register. I’m not quite sure what happened but someone talks about it on Redidit:

Wed Apr 01 | 14:37:03 >: nslookup xxx.xxx.com ;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached
Edit: Just got off the phone with Register.com support. The technician admitted to me that they have had a “server failure” and the problem is affecting all of their customers.

Although this post suggest they had a server failure, I am not quite sure what happened but I am going to let you figure that out!! This is some really good information go on Twitter. So you can try to figure it out some more for yourself.

Oh a side not, I’ve gotten the right RSS feed working, if you want to subscribe to my site and get automatic updates with full text just subscribe to my feed.

So it Is April 1, 2009 Now What?

PaulApril 1, 2009

So you survived the [intlink id=”3214″ type=”post” target=”_blank”]April Fools Joke[/intlink] that most people were talking about. Are you more Mindful of what a Virus is and how to best defend against it. If not let’s go back in the past and talk about some of the necessary Programs:[ad#cricket-right-ez]

If you haven’t already installed a [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]Free Anti Virus[/intlink], this would be the time to. Also install a Firewall to better protect you.

Never install any software from unknown site — This is most important even though they seem harmless enough there are sites that have [intlink id=”2991″ type=”post”]fake adobe updates or even flash updates[/intlink] that will install Maleware into your system. So if you have any doubt should visit the main site like Adobe.com to check for updates.

[intlink id=”3114″ type=”post”]If something scares you, count to ten[/intlink] — That is very useful when it comes to scareware sites that like to scare you into buying there fake anti virus software that doesn’t do anything. I say count to ten because by the time you did you will go looking for information on either that site or that warning and come to the conclusion it was scareware.

[intlink id=”2991″ type=”post”]Don’t download untested software[/intlink] — This is good for those who like to look for programs that are to expensive to buy but they want to have them. Most of the time Hackers like to use Crackers to infect systems. Although anything that is questionable can sometimes be infected with a virus so you should stay away from all of them.

[intlink id=”3248″ type=”post”]Apple’s OSX isn’t as secure as you may think[/intlink] — I hate when people say they are so glad to have a Mac, and yet it seems to be on the rise. Macintosh Operating system seems to be getting some attention from Hackers because their more virus and trojans being made for the the Macintosh, so don’t get over confident.

Although these are just a few steps to consider when dealing with virus, trojans, and Worms. It all depends on the End user to prevent this from happening. So if you want to protect your identity and system you should consider using the right software. If your a Vista you should also make sure your not running as an Admistrator, this will also protect your from getting infected.

Fake Scareware Sites Popup after the Pifts.EXE Conspiracy

PaulMarch 10, 2009

There Seems to Be a Fake site that are popping up today right after what happened with PIFTS.EXE. I just happen to Google it to see what people are talking about and this appears on the front page.

As you can see this leads to a server in Poland and once you go to it you see:

I will be reporting this to Phishtank. This is scareware which means there is no real VIRUS because and you
Should never believe the screens when you see something like this. According to Wikipedia:

[ad#ad2-right]Some websites display pop-up advertisement windows or banners with text such as: “Your computer may be infected with harmful spyware programs. Immediate removal may be required. To scan, click ‘Yes’ below.” These websites go as far as saying that a user’s job, career, or marriage would be at risk. Products using advertisements such as these are often considered scareware. serious scareware applications qualify as Rogue software.
[Via Wikipedia]

So if you are worried you have a virus or think you have a virus I would advise you to download one of the free Many anti-virus software and firewall. This is nothing new with the companies who are doing this but don’t buy anything because people are trying to scare you into thinking you have a virus. That rarely is a valid software and you should use the ones that you trust. If you find a site like that please report them to Phishtank and other sites that way we can protect everyone who goes there.

Reviewing the 3G A600 Cricket Modem

PaulMarch 6, 20096 Replies

So I got the Modem and wanted to test out the speed being stationary, So I go to my usual site Speedtest.net look at the speed, check below for speed.
As you can see this went fairly well. It does depend on your Cricket Coverage area. So you want to hear all about it.

First thing if you are upgrading from the UM100 Broadband Card, You’ll want to uninstall the Quicklink Software. To do that you can uninstall it by going to:

Computer > C: Drive > Program Files > Cricket > Quicklink > UNWISE.EXE

(This will uninstall the Quicklink software, I’d suggest after you uninstall it you reboot.)

How does the USB Modem work?

Once you do that you can then insert the A600 Modem into your USB. The Nice thing about this is the software for the Modem is on the Modem itself, so you don’t loose the CD for the modem. It currently only supports Windows and MAC OSX operating system but I have seen there is a work around to use the A600 Modem with Linux if your wondering.Once you insert it into the USB you’ll find you have a new Drive. It will say a Cricket CD Drive with 24 megs used. You’ll want to run that program on the Cricket CD and that will install the software.

The Connection

As you can see this is the provided application to connect to the Cricket Network and the speed and signal strength can differ from location to location due to coverage areas. This application can do several different functions:

Connecting to Cricket

Text Messaging (Free with broadband connection)

Bandwidth Monitor (Helps makes sure you don’t use to much Bandwidth, they do have a soft cap of 5 gig’s but haven’t affected me yet.)

Statistics, this is good for those who want to try to get the most out of the modem.

Logs, Also good for those who want to keep track on how much they used the modem. It however only logs activity on the system it is connected to.

Activation — Seems to help get updated tower positions when your traveling and can be done as long as you can get a signal

Pro’s to this EVDO MODEM:

[intlink id=”3174″ type=”post”]Memory Slot[/intlink] to have backups on files in case the worst case scenario happens (1 to 4 Gigbyte Capabilities)

Speed and Bandwidth (See above for speed test)

No loosing CD — I have the [intlink id=”3067″ type=”post”]program files[/intlink] online if you need them.

Independent card reader without having to install the Modem Software.

Able to take the modem with you as you go. (There is a clip slot for you to carry it anywhere you go.)

Found out there is an External antenna connector and will be looking at Antenna’s for it in the future.

Swivel USB port, You can swivel it up or down 90 degrees or side to side 180 degrees. (X and Y Axis)

Cons:

If you use it primarily internet you’ll expect some slow downs from time to time during HIGH Peak Zones.

This has a dormant signal feature that I will have to figure out how to disable but easily fixed by reconnecting to the tower. You can get out of dormant mode by web surfing, just load up your browser and the dormant mode will go away.

Twitter Comments:

@Laforge129 I sure am trying out the Cricket broadband.!I just started it last week and so far it never ceases to amaze me! (Via Twitter)

Conclusion

I and others would recommend the Cricket Broadband Modem a600 to anyone who wants an inexpensive and portable internet connection for $40 dollars and no contracts. Though with all the things you can do with this modem makes it an invaluable extra incentive in buying this modem. You should always check the Coverage area for Cricket and make sure you are able to use this modem in the first place. I’ll have another update on this later on but I’m really impressed with all the features of this modem.

Clicker here to buy it now.

Check out my Extended Review of the A600 and All the programs that I added to my 4 gig MicroSD Card.

If you want to comment on the A600 just twitter me and tell me what you think. Maybe you’ll twitter will be on my review site.

[gsom-optin]

When do you “Never Fold”

PaulMarch 5, 2009

So I got this email and wanted to show you just how try to get you to link to their site:

I got this email and wanted to talk about how people link to sites they shouldn’t. Although this a real site, I had my doubts from the get go. You see it talks about sending 21 visitors to my site. I got to the site Neverfold.net which after I looked and there I am but I wonder why? Because Poker and Calicanis have nothing in common with Poker or at least news and all that.

[ad#ad2-right]As you can see when you go to that site via the link he gives me, which by the way if you weren’t paying attention is a hidden link with Neverfold.net/?pg=YKchR. As you can see this is a way for him to know when you click it to put your name on the forum page. You can tell because Ref: YKchR is at the bottom of the email. This is most likely a generated email by a bot, I did even more research to find out more information. I found out that the so call 5k to 7k page views were bogus. I checked with Alexa, and I find out this:

In the last few days the of this site they have dropped from 2k per day to under 1k because of links dieing out. You see Google takes the page rank out when you don’t have any new people linking to you in 3 months. So I am guessing this has been going on for quite some time. So I had to make sure before I said anything, I did a Google search for my name in there forums and I came up with nothing. I am guessing there is a Nofollow links going on. So I thought I would also make sure to add the Nofollow link. I also know about Google Juice and how it works and know about the No follow. I have read how others are not quite sure what is going. Found this Gambling Forum where they were talking about this type of email and they weren’t to sure about this site. I love how people think you’ll link to them without doing some kind of investigation. I encourage all webmasters if you get an email like this you should do your own investigation and not expect the email to be truthful. Since this email isn’t being truthful to me, I feel no obligation to give it any more than it is due.