March 2009 Archives
There's been a lot of information published regarding the Conficker virus and how it is programmed to start attacking vulnerable computers on April 1. You've probably seen some references to this threat but, like many of us, are unsure of just what this means to your computers and network connections.
Let's start at the beginning. Conficker is a network worm. That means it uses the network, both inside and outside of your office, to spread from computer to computer. There is always a lot of background chatter between networked computers that we never see. Worms use these back-channel communications to spread exponentially across networks. They can do so at an alarmingly fast rate. Conficker has infected more computers than any network virus ever has - doing so very quietly. And, unlike most viruses, Conficker caused no initial malicious activity but rather lies in waiting for its signal to start the attack. This is a sneaky little piece of code.
How do you know if your computer is infected with Conficker?
Although it may seem like printing over a wireless network is magic, it's really no different than printing with a regular wired network. It doesn't matter if you connect your notebook computer to the network router or with a network cable. If one of the computers on the network has a printer attached, all of the computers on the network should be able to access it, as long as your printer is designated as "shared>
Sharing a Printer On a Wireless Network.pdf
File describe a process for taking e-mail addresses from received e-mails and transforming them into groups in Groupwise. Agents and support staff may find this really useful for keeping up with club leaders/members and producer groups.
The Texas A&M University system is required to certify that all software and data contained on the hard-disk drive of a computer has been completely erased before the computer is transferred or sold. For many years we recommend you use AutoClave hard drive erase utility to "Nuke" the hard drive; however, as technology changes, many of our machines no longer have floppy drives as standard equipment. Plus, Autoclave is no longer supported by the guy who created it. So, we are now recommending you use DBan which can be used on a CD. This Blog Entry will walk you through the process of creating the Dban CD and Nuking a Hard drive for Surplus.
