“Security” collection
Safeguard your family’s digital and physical environment with expert advice on home monitoring, online privacy, and data protection. This category provides essential strategies and reviews of tools to help you maintain a secure, private, and protected connected life.
HTD Tech Briefs
View all →May 15, 2008
Transition from DD-WRT to Tomato on Linksys Router
I decided I was tired of waiting around for the next version of DD-WRT to come out (v24) which, as of this writing, was at RC7, I believe. I twittered today that I was tired of waiting and got a tweet back saying that I should check out Tomato and that people were saying some good things about it. I…
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April 8, 2008
Warning: Watch out for "Evacuation process…San Clemente Nucklear Power Station" email
Just a quick note. Watch out for an email coming in from various news sources (mine came from "foxnews" and a buddy's from "google news" that claims there was an issue at the "San Clemente Nucklear Power Station." This is most obviously a fake, especially if you are not signed up to receive email notifications from news sources. (If you…
Read more →September 18, 2007
WordPress: People can view your Plugin Folder unless you fix!
As I was working on the update to my blog theme, I found a security hole that I think has existed for a long time in WordPress. While not incredibly devastating, nor directly tied to "code" within WordPress, it is a hole that is very easy to fix. The concern is more with KNOWING the types of plugins that a…
Read more →September 10, 2007
WordPress update: Version 2.2.3 released with Security Fix
Just updated my blog with WordPress version 2.2.3 (haven't taken the plunge with the beta version 2.3 yet but I am working on a new theme). The 2.2.3 version is just a security release that they recommend people upgrade to, especially regarding two high-priority bugs. The following bugs were closed: 3002 - On Windows machines register_activation_hook() does not work if…
Read more →June 19, 2007
Family Tech: Easily manage what sites your kids see with Glubble
Finally I have come across something to write about that truly talks to my site motto "where technology and fatherhood collide." It is not very often that I can write about a new service or piece of software that can help a family. Computers are now as common as TVs and now kids have computers in their rooms, at schools,…
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May 30, 2007
Scam/Virus Alert – emails from IRS with Subject “Complaint Case Number…”
Scam, Virus, Phishing alert! Looks like there is a variant of the Better Business Bureau scam is circulating now but seemingly from the Internal Revenue Service, and I was a recipient of one of the emails. It came in with a title of: "Complaint Case Number ###### against User Name" from, supposedly "[email protected]". The body itself looked somewhat legit and…
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October 24, 2006
How to combat Phishing Scams
So, I previously posted about Phishing scams and what they look like (with screen shots). I figured that I would continue my Public Service Announcement with some tools that you can use to be sure that you don't get "caught." Option #1 - There is a new site that you can go and report Phishing scams on called PhishTank. On…
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September 29, 2006
Understanding Phishing Scams…first hand!
This is my PSA (Public Service Announcement) for the week and it is about something pretty scary...Phishing Scams. Several years ago, I was a victim of identity theft. It was not a pleasant experience but it left me wiser and more cautious. It was done the old fashioned way of swiping some receipts and looking up some account information (local…
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April 11, 2006
Anti-Spyware Tools (recommended)
There are two anti-spyware tools that are free that I recommend all Windows users install: Spybot Search & Destroy SpywareBlaster Both of these tools are free, however, you need to be diligent in terms of updating their "definitions" regularly (part of the price of using "freeware" tools). I usually go to one of my favorite Windows program sites called MajorGeeks…
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