Smart Phones: Please Stop Making Me Feel So Dumb. Part 2

So we have the very popular, easy to use, not so consumer friendly iPhone. Now im going to post a little about the Android. I personally love the Android platform, when used right it can be amazing. People ask “do you have an Android do you have a Droid?” I reply “no I have a phone that runs the Android Operating System”. The Android OS is pretty awesome, with so many customizable widgets, screens etc. Generally there are two manufactures of Android devices they are HTC and Motorola. The Android is easy to use, customizable; there are many FREE apps (Most of the apps are free). It’s made by Google so of course it works great with Gmail, has free navigation through Google maps, and the rest of Google’s toys. Androids are available through every wireless carrier and have many different specs. If you would like to buy one of these devices I suggest you check out the specs. A friend asked me “Get the Droid 2 or the HTC Incredible”. So for this post ill use this as a good example. After looking over the two I said get the incredible the only differences were the manufacturer and the Incredible has an 8.0 megapixel camera. Of course the Droid 2 has a slide out keyboard…but let’s face it, this is a touch screen world and keyboards are going the way of the 3.5 floppy. Both have 512MB RAM and 1GHz processors. The rooting/hacking community is geared toward the HTC phones to be honest with you. The phones both have 8 gig internal memory with microSD slots to expand the memory up to 32 gigs. Android devices also let you remove the battery to replace it with an extended life battery or even just replace a defective one. Okay, yeah I know lots of pros you want to know the cons. The battery life of many Android devices leaves something to wanted. I constantly charge my own device. Then again if you can put this thing down and stop playing with it then the battery might last a while. You can also install task killers to save battery life. It won’t sync with your ITunes but you can still put a hell of a lot of music on it. I’m trying not to be biased here but hell what can I say? The Androids are just as good if not better than the iPhone. You can’t get the same apps on the Android devices as you can get for your iPhone…but most developers are programming games that are compatible with both platforms. Bottom line, if you don’t want ATT’s service but you still want a phone capable of doing everything an iPhone does without the iTunes, but with Google integration and more customization Androids are for you.

So Androids and iPhones are covered what about Blackberries? Blackberries have been around before either the iPhone or Android. They are the staple of businesses and geek gurus and people who want email anywhere. RIM, the maker of Blackberries, has just released its OS6 platform its more iPhone/Android like. It’s pretty cool and would be amazing if it were released a year or two ago. Everyone that gets these devices loves the capability of the BlackBerry Messenger that’s cool but I can do the same thing with free programs…or hell who doesn’t have unlimited texting anymore? Blackberries are nice, they are slightly customizable and you can get a few good apps. They have a removable battery; have lots of different models for you to choose from and are reliable. Typically these phones are slower than the iPhone or an Android device and not all phones run the new OS. The saying “a little too late” comes to mind here. Personally, I see RIM going the way of Palm and have no doubt its only a matter of time until they are selling to someone. The last Blackberry I had was the Storm it was great when it first came out but just couldn’t hang with iPhones and other devices. Bottom line, a Blackberry is reliable, slightly customizable, a lot of businesses still use them, and it will play music, takes pictures and great with email. Though they are lacking in development are everything but cutting edge and in my opinion the company will be going out of business soon.

So there you have iPhones, Androids, and Blackberry, all smart phones that can make you feel dumb. I hope this post has given you a little clarity on the subject. When you get your next phone take this stuff into consideration techie, Trekie, or straight smart phones are here to stay so you might as well embrace them.

For more information, questions, comments, concerns, hate mail, bashing, etc email me at TechReally@gmail.com

This has been a TechReally technology post. I hope this review has been helpful and informative.

Smart Phones: Please Stop Making Me Feel So Dumb. Part 1

Smart phones, the term can actually make you feel pretty dumb when you get one of these bad boys in your hands. The new rage or standard even are smart phones, whether it’s a iPhone, Android, Windows, blackberry or Symbian device. These are all great phones each one has its own unique best quality and they all share the fact that they are fun to use.
Let’s get some confusion out of the way real quick, this information is meant for those of you who aren’t familiar with smart phones. We all are aware of what an iPhone is, its Apples flagship piece of technology that saved the company from what was certainly an impending doom. Androids are any phones that run the Google Smart Phone Operating System(OS), called Android. I always get asked the question “What is the difference between a Droid and an Android”. The answer to this question is simple…there are no differences with operating system whatsoever, a Droid is an Android. Droid happens to be Motorola’s name for their new devices going to Verizon, Droid is also a copyrighted name owned by Lucas Arts. Who would have guessed huh….”These are not the droids you are looking for...” That’s a Star Wars quote for any of you who aren’t a little geeky. Windows Mobile is of course Microsoft’s smart phone mobile OS. If you don’t know what Microsoft or Windows is well then you might be the only person left. Blackberry devices, these are Research In Motion’s (RIM) smart phones. Undoubtedly one of the first best smart phones on the market, RIM has since seen a downfall in sales and popularity…ill touch on that in a few. Symbian devices, this is the one where I confused you all I saw you scratching your heads when I said this earlier. Symbian devices are simply Nokia smartphones pretty simple description for a simple device.
I’m going to cover what seems to be the three favored categories out of these which are the iPhones, Androids, and Blackberries.
Let’s start with iPhones, everyone loves iPhones. For those of you that know me you know I love my Android but I have owned all three of these types of phones. I’ll try and be as non-opinionated as best and I’ll let you decide. iPhones are awesome and everyone wants the newest, fastest, and baddest one. iPhones are manufactured by a little known company that goes by the name of Apple. The iPhone 3Gs runs a 600 megahertz (MHz) processor and has 256 mega bytes (MB) of RAM. The Apple iPhone 4 runs a 1 giga hertz(GHz) processor and 512MB of RAM. What does this mean to you? Well we base the speed of most computers and smart devices on the amount of RAM and processing power they have. You can’t have a lot of processing power and a little bit of RAM or a lot of RAM and little processing speed or else you won’t see a speed increase. After going over the specs of the 3Gs and 4G its safe to say that the 4G is almost twice the phone of the 3Gs. iPhones are incredibly easy to understand, this is their market. You have your choice of the space size you want and the choice of black or white. There is really no difference other than one can hold more and one is white or one is black. I had a 3Gs and the services wasn’t that great and the phone just wasn’t geeky enough for me, but this post isn’t geared toward geeks it’s towards the basic consumer with little technical knowledge. The iPhone has a few drawbacks that make it not so great. Apple approves all of the programs that go into the Apple store, thus making it difficult to get in the store or even beta test. ATT is the only carrier that has the iPhone at the moment. ATT on the east coast is so shoddy I get better reception with tin cups and strings. A real life example of this is …at this very moment I am sitting in a server room in downtown Columbia and have a single bar on my ATT Blackberry. When I had my iPhone in the same place if I held it just right in the most uncomfortable position I got two bars. Now ATT sells a cell booster…but who really wants to pay for that or have to even use it…its 2010 and this isn’t a third world country. Hope is in the future though; Verizon will be offering the iPhone come January. Hate them of love them Verizon has undoubtedly the best network around. I can hear the question now though as I am typing this “Well why can’t I just hook my iPhone up to Verizon now?” ATT and Verizon use two very different wireless technologies, ATT uses GSM and Verizon uses CDMA they are incompatible (Comment and request if you would like to know more about CDMA and GSM Networks). The iPhone does not allow for expansion either, meaning you can’t use that MicroSD card to get more memory. The iPhone also has a sealed battery making it impossible for the typical consumer to get an expanded battery without voiding the warranty. Speaking of warranties another drawback of the iPhone is lack of carrier support, if your phone breaks you have to send it back to Apple or take it to an Apple store(Which are few and far between) to have it serviced. Bottom line, if you want a decent phone that is going to work pretty well, has thousands of apps and a 3 year old can use the iPhone is a great choice.

Stay Tuned for the second part of “Smart Phones: Don’t make me Feel So Dumb”

Thanks for reading another TechReally! technology post.

CCleaner Tutorial

CCleaner, Crap Cleaner, is a great tool. Its free and downloadable from PiriForm. The tool lets you clear all of your temporary files and also has a registry repairer. It is available for just about all Windows operating systems. This tool when used the right way can speed up your computer. I am going to show you how to use this great little piece of technology.

Running the Cleaner:

Step 1: Download CCleaner.exe from Piriform's website

Step 2: Install the program using the default settings...basically just keep clicking next.

Step 3: When CCleaner first opens you will be presented with the cleaner menu. Click Analyze to allow CCleaner to find all of your temp files.

Step 4: Once the analysis is complete click "Run Cleaner", this will delete all of your temp files and ultimately speed your machine up a bit.

Running the Registry Cleaner:

Step 1: Download CCleaner.exe from Piriform's website

Step 2: Install the program using the default settings...basically just keep clicking next.

Step 3: When CCleaner first opens you will be presented with the cleaner menu. Click the registry tab to go to the registry cleaner menu.

Step 4: Click "Scan for issues". The cleaner goes over the registry and finds all of the errors and missing information.

Step 5: Once the scan is complete click "Fix Selected Issues"

Step 6: Youll be asked if you want to back up the registry, it is always a good idea to back it up at least once. Click "Yes" then "Save"

Step 7: At the next pop-up menu click "Fix all selected issues" then click "Ok" to confirm. The cleaner runs and you can click "close"

Note: Run the scan a few times, usually 3 is the magic number. You want to run it until CCleaner does not find any other errors

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CCleaner has many other features such as uninstaller, start-up and system restore cleaner. These are pretty useful tools but I wouldn't recommend them for the average users with the exclusion of the uninstaller.

Thanks for reading another TechReally! technology post. I hope this tutorial helps!

Using The Sophos Command Line Tool

In my previous post I made the remark that Sophos only supports enterprise and small businesses. While this is true it doesnt mean that they dont have a tool you can use to make sure you are virus free. This little command line tool works wonders its simple and easy to use. I am going to give you a tutorial on the process. Follow along with the video if you need any help.

Step 1: Download the sav32cli.exe file and IDEs from Sophos they can be obtained here.

Step 2: Using the self extrator, extract the files to "c:\sav32cli". For the IDE files you will want to download the zip file and extract them manually to the "c:\sav32cli" folder

Step 3: Goto Start>Run or Windows logo>search programs and files and type "CMD" with no quotes in the box that appears.

Step 4: Once youre black command line box has appeared type the following command with no quotations "c:\sav32cli\sav32cli.exe -f -di". The -f command is for a full scan and -di is for disinfect.

Step 5: If prompted to disinfect hit "A" and wait for the scan to complete.

Thats it, you're all done! You have just utilized some of the best AV software in command-line form around.

If it seems too easy check out the video below, please watch in HD quality to be able to see the writing. Also the video does not show the end of the scan to save time.

Happy Virus hunting!



Thanks for reading another TechReally! technology post. I hope this tutorial helps!

Sophos Anti-Virus

For those of you who don’t know I am an avid supporter of Sophos Anti-Virus. I came across this company about a year ago looking to replace Trend Micro Officescan. This company has turned back flips for me and my company. Our sales rep Brenton Newell has been incredible and always makes sure we have what we need. I did a pretty large survey of anti-virus software in order to make sure that my workplace was secured by the best product, I mean isn’t that what a Security Manager is supposed to do? This piece of software is one of the best I have ever used. Instead of traditional anti-virus heuristics they use what they call Genotype® Protection. I have got to tell you that what Trend wouldn’t clean, what Symantec wouldn’t detect and what no other AV can do Sophos can. The district I work for was hit with a major virut/scribble outbreak almost a year and a half to two years ago now and trend fumbled with it resulting in a lot of money going towards contractors to come in and help us reimage most of the PCs. This is not something that should happen in this day and age. In our enterprise environment of 15-20K PCs this virus should have been stopped dead in its tracks. Yeah yeah yeah I know what you are saying virut is a polymorphic virus…it’s basically a living entity. When I was surveying vendors the CA tech engineer told me that it’s not a virus its fake AV….I know fake AVs and this isn’t one. Let’s not even bring up the point that the Sophos command line rescue tool will clean Virut/I-Frame with no problem.

Point of this rant is that I called other users of the Sophos product and they had no idea what I was talking about when I asked if they got hit with the outbreak. The other districts I called who were using different products knew exactly what was going on. Sophos works and it works well. Calling other customers gave me even a better feeling about this program. Security managers and managers raved over how well it worked and how little administration there is.

Sophos only deals with small businesses and enterprise customers there is no home market for them. This says a lot about the company…too often do we see vendors going to the home and not paying as much attention to their enterprise customers. I realize that this article may be geared more towards the techies out there but I know a manager somewhere is reading this. Sophos supports our environment of Windows servers, Novell servers, Macs, Windows XP and 7 machines. They have great support and haven’t let me down yet.

Okay that’s all good but where’s the catch? Where is the bad part? I will have to say for all the good there are only a few downfalls to the program. When speaking with other companies their main gripe was having to go in and manually clear out
virus alerts. Personally I say that’s your job and it’s a great way to let people know where the problems are. The second downfall that I have experienced is their warnings, if a legitimate program changes the system files Sophos usually issues a warning. But there is ways to turn this warning off you just have to know how to do it. Basically the only problems with this program are that you have to do a little configuration. Are you kidding me? That’s not a problem it’s what we are paid to do, I don’t expect Sophos for a minute to be able to tailor their program to my environment without being in the place.

If your company is looking for a great piece of anti-virus software Sophos is the way to go, there is no question in my mind. If you would like to know more just shoot me an email and ill be glad to share.

Companies that trust Sophos to protect them include:

Toshiba, Marks & Spencer, Cisco, Lockheed Martin, Under Armour, Heinz and GE just to name a few of the big ones.

Thanks for reading another TechReally! technology post.

Scanning a computer using a rescue disk

From time to time computers get so messed up that they will not even boot. It’s a frustrating and daunting task for typical users. Fear not my techno amigos TechReally is here to help!

Your problem is a virus you got through Facebook or music downloading or wherever, we’re not here to judge just help you out. When you power on your computer it goes through all of the regular loading screen and then boom you hit a blue screen, or as we in the industry like to call it the “Blue Screen of Death” or BSOD for short. It’s really easily identifiable its blue, has a lot of confusing white numbers and letters, and most importantly you can’t do anything. The other case is that Windows loads and there are a multitude of fake virus warnings making it pretty much impossible for you to do any work what so ever. Then my friends you need a rescue CD, sounds complicated right? Nope, its free, easy to use, and I’m going to show you exactly how to use it. We are going to be using Kaspersky rescue CD for the purpose of this tutorial.

The rescue disks are downloadable in ISO format. ISOs are image files, they allow you to boot from a disk thus running a system from a CD or Thumb Drive and never booting to the hard drive. Just about every rescue disk you find runs off a Linux operating system, this is why the ISOs are so small and easily burnt to CD. When they boot the “mount” your hard drive to scan. Mounting means making it accessible by giving you access and a drive letter.

**DISCLAIMER: Rescue CDs can sometimes get rid of critical system files making your computer incapable of booting. (But it won’t boot in the first place so don’t worry. You’ve got to approach it with the mindset of “Its already broke so obviously I can’t break it anymore”)

Step 1: Obtain the software needed to make your disk. A .ISO file is available for download here Kaspersky Rescue Disk Download.
Step 2: Using Roxio or a Windows 7 machine burn the ISO to a CD. In Win7 just right click on the ISO file and click “Burn ISO to Disk”, if you need help shoot me a comment and ill do a write up on Burning ISOs.
Step 3: Prepare your computer; when you first hit the power button on your computer you see a logo or letters and numbers running on the screen depending on the system. For this tutorial we will use a Dell computer as an example. Pressing F2 will take you into the BIOS settings (It’s important that you only change what I’m about to outline). Look for the “Boot Sequence” Menu; it is usually under the “System” Menu or right there on the front page. Select “Onboard or USB CD-ROM” and press “U” until “Onboard or USB CD-ROM” reaches the top of the menu. Press “Enter”, then press “ESC” and click yes to save changes when prompted. **System Will Restart**
Step 4: open your CD tray and insert your CD that you burnt your ISO to and power off the PC.
Step 5: Once the PC is completely shutdown with the CD in, turn the computer on. You’ll see a screen like that in Figure 1. Press any key to boot from CD. At the next screen select your language using the up/down arrow keys and press enter to confirm your choice. The next screen is one of the most important. You will want to check “Kaspersky Rescue Disk – Graphic Mode”.
Step 6: The Kaspersky disk will start to load and give you an End User License Agreement (EULA) press “C” to confirm. Once you have confirmed the CD will finish loading.
Step 7: Select all of the drives listed and click “Start Scan”
Step 8: The scan will take some time; it’s a deep scan and will find a lot of viruses. At times you will see a pop-up that says “Item found What would you like to do”, Select “Disinfect”. Sometimes after that you may get a screen that says “Disinfect Failed” what would you like to do select “Delete”. This happens when Kaspersky finds files that are mostly virus code.
Step 9: When the scan is done remove the disk and reboot the computer, your computer should now boot up. This works more times than not in these situations.

For the support manual please see:
Kaspersky Rescue CD 10

For detailed instructions on how to setup a USB thumb drive also see:
USB Drive boot

If you have any questions, need any help, or would like to see a tutorial with your specific BIOS manufacturer please comment or email TechReally!

Thanks for reading another TechReally! technology post. I hope this tutorial helps!

Figure 1:

Scams, Spam and Facebook?

In this blog, I want to warn you of the dangers of spam and scams.

"Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast media, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately."

Spam fills your inbox with offers of cheap meds, cheap sex, cheap travel and all kinds of other stuff. I have to be honest. If I responded to every one of the spam emails I got, I'd be broke. I would have my identity stolen. I would probably have a stock pile of sugar pills and vacation after vacation in the ghettos of Mexico and other places.

What I really want to make you aware of is the scam aspect of spam. Emails with subject titles like "I've got a message for you" or "Is this you?" are just ways to get you to open the mail and read the ad that is inside. This is where the scam aspect of spamming comes in. They hook you with bleeding heart messages like "help Haiti" or "Help Chile." Once you have clicked on the link, your computer is infected with viruses and trojans. They use the information you use to "Donate" and keep your money. The best guideline for spam - dont open email if you don't know who it is from. The "from" part of your mailbox is like the peephole on your front door, if you don't know the person knocking...you simply do not let them in.

Here is where I get to talk a little about the new Facebook scams going on. The newest spam/scam is made to look like it comes from your friends. You get a nice little invite in your message folder from what looks like your friends. The message says "Click here to RSVP." Well, clicking this link takes you to another website that infects your computer. Again the best way to prevent this is to not click on "it." Nine times out of ten, a person will tell you about an event before it hits Facebook. If you don't know about it...don't click on it.


Below are a few guidelines to follow from http://www.usaaedfoundation.org/pdf/572.pdf



How can you have fun online while protecting yourself?

-Do not post information that will identify you, including:

● Your full name.

● Your home address or phone number.

● Your Social Security number.

● Passwords.

● Credit card or bank account numbers.

● Names of family members or friends.

● Your workplace or favorite hangout.

● Names of clubs or organizations to which you belong.

● Historical information that could identify your past residences.

● Do not use a nickname that can be used to identify you (for example, “CharlestonLawyer,” “CindyFromTulsa” or “KyWildcatMom”).

● Never share your account password.

-Protect Your Computer System

● Consider using encryption to protect your personal information.

● Shut down your computer when it is not in use — especially in public places, such as Internet cafes, coffeehouses or airports.

● Keep your antivirus and antispyware programs, other software and operating systems updated to protect against new attacks.

● Consider using a firewall on your system to protect against hackers accessing your system remotely.

● Think about how your e-mail message will be read by others. Do not say anything online that is cruel or may damage someone’s reputation. Doing so puts you at risk of being accused of slander or defamation, or may cause a dangerous escalation of hostilities.

● Do not give out personal information about someone else.

● Do not forward another individual’s e-mail without their permission.

● Never allow anyone to photograph you in an embarrassing or compromising situation.

● Never post anything that would cause you embarrassment or shame. The Internet is the most public of forums — once you have posted a comment, a photo or a video, it cannot be erased or taken back. You cannot control its duplication and it may be used against you.

● Do not send photos of yourself or family members to Internet acquaintances. Photos can be altered and sent to others, and elements in photos — a landmark or a street name, for example — can be used to identify your location.

● Remember that, once posted, the information can be seen by anyone with a computer and an Internet connection: family and friends, employers or potential employers, admissions officers at schools you might like to attend — even police and other law-enforcement authorities.



Following these guidelines and taking to heart the information I have written about are just small steps that will have a huge effect on keeping you, your computer and your family safe from Scams, Spam, and Facebook.

Malware! What is it? How can I Fix it?

Malware, you may have heard the term but not know exactly what it is. Malware is exactly what its name suggests, malicious software. Malware creeps into your computer usually without your consent or disguised as something completely harmless. Malware tries to hinder the use of your computer by stopping the use of legitimate programs like antivirus and firewalls. Malware can enter your computer through many means, one of the most popular ways is through file sharing P2P programs that connect to the guentilla network (ie: Limewire, BearShare, Etc). When you download your favorite song, (like no one really does, right?), a small bit of code can be attached to that sound file and ultimately install itself onto your computer. The type of malware that slows your computer down and hinders your use is only one kind of malware. Another type is Scare-ware, this is my favorite type. Scare-ware does just that, it scares you into buying a false program with false warnings. Scare-ware tells you that you have infections on almost every file you try to run. It scares you into thinking you’re at risk. Anti-Virus Pro and Antivirus 2008/2009/2010 are prime examples of scare-ware. As a computer tech, I can tell you that it’s costly to get rid of and downright annoying.

One of my favorite programs to use is Malware Bytes Anti-Malware. This program works wonders and the free version is amazing if you know you’re already infected. Malware Bytes offers quick and full scan capabilities. “Quick scanning” scans all of the processes and files called currently into memory and determines if they are infected. “Full scanning” scans all of your files and registry keys to seek out the bad malware. When an infection is found, Malware Bytes gives you the option of deleting or leaving the file (as a tech tip…just delete the file). Personally, I’ve even seen Malware Bytes take out the nasty polymorphic virus VIRUT. I suggest trying the free version and, after falling in love with it, go ahead and buy the full version. Buying the full version unlocks real-time protection, scheduled scanning and scheduled updating.

Another new tool that is out is Microsoft’s Security Essentials. I have played around with it, and I’ve seen it catch a few nasty worms and viruses that other software is not finding.

I once used Adaware, as I know most of you have heard of and use. I find Malware Bytes to be faster and more reliable.

Please leave comments if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Malware Bytes Anti-Malware can be downloaded at http://www.malwarebytes.org

Microsoft Security Essentials can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials