Saturday, October 9, 2010

We've Moved.

Please visit our new home at http://bobhubbard.net/

Thank you.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund

"One hundred percent of donations received by the Clinton Foundation and the Communities Foundation of Texas go directly to relief efforts."

Donation sent.

http://www.clintonbushhaitifund.org/

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Bad PC Sales Staff Exposed

Bad PC Sales Staff Exposed on Monday September 28, @01:33PM

iBarence writes "An undercover investigation has revealed how Dell's online sales staff take liberties with the truth when trying to sell customers new PCs. One member of staff told an undercover reporter that he would need a PC with a good graphics card to download digital photos. Another, who was more incompetent than devious, was asked how many photos could be stored on a 250GB hard disk. 'Its[sic] on average 2 MB then 1024 MB * 2,' came the bewildering reply. Meanwhile, a sales assistant at supermarket Tesco told the reporter that netbooks got their name because 'a Japanese man on a plane fell asleep with a laptop on his thighs and was horribly burned, so the industry has dropped the name laptop.'"
Read More...Slashdot

Scam Warning

Scam Warning

I received a call the other day. Person on the other end had an Indian accent. Told me he was calling about my "computer problem" and wanted me to walk through settings on my system.

I engaged this person in conversation, repeatedly asking him who he was, who he was with, how he got my number and why he was calling me.

He insisted that I had placed a support call and he was trying to help me.

I had not placed any such call.

Today I learned that my mother also received a similar call. (She has no computer).

Needless to say I didn't allow any "support".

THis link seems to indicate there's a new technique going around.
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-800-698-9034

I'm uncertain what the scam exactly is, wether they collect your info directly, have you visit a link that installs spyware or a system hijack, but if you receive ANY calls from anyone offering support, I strongly suggest you reject them.

Also, be aware that Microsoft wont call you out of the blue, so be doubly aware of that.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Q&A: How do you get your website to appear on the first page, at the top, of a Google search?

Q&A: How do you get your website to appear on the first page, at the top, of a Google search?

Question:
How do you get your website to appear on the first page, at the top, of a Google search?

Answer:
Short answer, you don't. Most people when they think of searching will type in something very broad and very generic like "karate" or "training" or even a little more precise like "self defense" and see millions of results. Trying to tackle that amount of competition for the top spot is really a losing battle, unless you have very deep pockets. A better approach, and one that has a better chance of being successful for you is to focus your attention on specific search phrases.

For example, many of my martial arts clients are in the Western New York area. They aren't looking for someone in London England to hit their site, but for someone in the WNY area. So, a smart searcher will type in something like "Buffalo martial arts" (which results in 3 of my clients, and 5 of my sites on the 1st page) or "wny martial arts" (4 sites, 1 client on page 1), or "wny karate" (3 sites 1st page). Typing in something like "modern arnis seminar training" has 2 of my clients on the 1st page. Another example is "natural resource consulting" which has 1 of my clients on the 1st page of results.

It's important to think in terms of search phrases when you optimize your site, and focus on those. A combination of proper key words, solid descriptions, and appropriate text will greatly enhance your chances for high placement. Also, be certain all of your images are captioned using ALT tags. Those are an often overlooked place for extra optimization.

===
Bob Hubbard, is the CEO of SilverStar WebDesigns Inc. and an Administrator at MartialTalk.com and KenpoTalk.com. He can be reached through those sites.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Conflicker Eye Chart

http://www.confickerworkinggroup.org/infection_test/cfeyechart.html

If you can see all the images, you're probably ok.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Conflicker

Make sure your firewall is up.
Try to manually run a windows update.

If both work, you're probably clean.

In the mean time, make sure that your antivirus is up to date, and actively running.
Spyware/Malware protection also is good to have running.

There's alot of hype about this one, but 3M out of 1B pc's isn't that big a deal.

There's over 100,000 worms, viruses, etc out there.

The same precautions count for all of them:
- Use a reliable antivirus, and keep it current
- use a reliable malware shield, and keep it current
- use an on system firewall, and verify it's on.
- use a hardware firewall and make sure it's working
- make sure your system is up to date software wise.

Also
- don't open strange email attachments
- scan your email
- use a spam blocker to cut down on your spam
- don't visit bad websites
- don't use bootleg software from crack sites that may open holes in your armor or install nasties. .

See also: iant Internet worm set to change tactics April 1
 
Copyright © 2009 Bob Hubbard. All rights reserved.