Not all computer viruses are equal. After all, virus writers are often trying to impress their colleagues. Nobody would be impressed if they all did the same thing. So, yes, there is a lot of variety, not only in what the viruses do, how they spread, but also in methodology. We can classify this whole [...]
Who Programs Computer Viruses?
January 16, 2008 by Leave a Comment
All computer viruses have an author. It was programmed by a real live person with the sole intent of creating a piece of software that will function like a virus. The people who create computer viruses are fairly tech inclined as they obviously have good programming skills. In fact, some virus programmers are actually employed [...]
MacBook Air – Initial Thoughts About Apple’s Ultra-Portable
January 15, 2008 by Leave a Comment
Apple’s newcomer ultra-portable laptop is the MacBook Air. No, I’m not considering buying one but I have a few initial thoughts about it. Before reading this you should check out the guided tour and the tech specs. Firstly I will say that ultra-portable units are not for everyone. The key thing to remember with an [...]
Domino Flash Drives Make Sense
January 15, 2008 by Leave a Comment
Sometimes there are nifty things that are invented that make complete sense and this is one of them. This is a flash drive that’s black with domino-style dots on it. Each time a dot appears, it means 1 gig of space is in use. What’s even better is that these flash drives interlock. While that’s [...]
Will ’08 Be The Year For Desktop Linux?
January 15, 2008 by 12 Comments
Something not mentioned too often in year-in-review articles is that a ton of people tried out Linux for the first time. While it’s true Linux didn’t stick around as their primary OS for most, the fact so many people tried it out is a huge step towards making Linux more mainstream. This brings several things [...]
PCMech EDU Shaping Up
January 15, 2008 by Leave a Comment
Fair warning: This is a bit of a long-winded post but I am genuinely excited about the introduction of PCMech EDU. Yesterday I got to see the back-end of how PCMech EDU is going to work, and said honestly it’s going to be a kick-ass system. I will give kudos where kudos are due, Dave [...]
Retrieving a Previously Purchased QuickTime Pro Product Key
January 14, 2008 by 4 Comments
I’m posting this just in case anyone out there has purchased a "downloadable" Apple product. A long time ago I purchased QuickTime Pro because it handles the Apple MOV format best since it’s an Apple product. It also exports FLV files quite nicely (and notably faster than doing it the Macromedia way). But let’s say [...]
Dot-Info Domains For a Buck
January 13, 2008 by 2 Comments
Note before starting this one: PCMech.com receives no perks from this. This is just us passing on the savings to you. Dotster, my all-time favorite domain registrar, is have a promotion right now where you can get 1-year dot-info domain registrations for 99¢. So everyone is aware, I have bought 99-cent dot-info domains from Dotster [...]
OS X: It’s Not All About Hex(adecimal)
January 10, 2008 by Leave a Comment
Undoubtedly one of OS X’s strong suits is its graphics editing capabilities. Apple used to primarily push desktop publishing as the thing to do with a Mac years ago. These days they’re all about the "digital life", but that’s another story. Lots of Mac people do web design which requires dipping into hexadecimal values often [...]
Creating a POI Database Using Google Earth and KML2CSV
January 9, 2008 by 3 Comments
A common-shared database format between many GPS devices is called a POI (Point-Of-Interest) database. Most people looking for free downloadable POIs fast discover that most people charge to get them. However, with Google Earth, KMLCSV and POI Loader you can create your own for free and share with friends.
Computer Viruses: What is a computer virus?
January 9, 2008 by Leave a Comment
You might wonder why it is called a virus. Is your computer getting sick? Is it going to die? Obviously a computer is not made up of cells. It cannot get sick the same way a person does. So, why is it called a virus? [hidepost=1] To understand this, let’s take a look at the [...]
Secure That Laptop The Right Way
January 9, 2008 by Leave a Comment
A rather lengthy (which in this case is good) Linux.com article describes in detail things you can do to secure a laptop. The nice part is that it can be applied to just about any laptop running a modern OS (even ones that aren’t Linux). Some points covered are: Insurance This has nothing to do [...]
Portable Sega Genesis – Yes It’s Cool And I Want One
January 8, 2008 by 1 Comment
New on the scene: The Sega Mega Drive Portable. The cost is $40 and for that 40 you get a whole lot of entertainment as it comes bundled (and pre-loaded with mind you) several really good licensed games, including Sonic and Knuckles, Altered Beast, Golden Axe and more. But they could have totally skipped Ecco [...]
Is Apple Security By Obscurity?
January 8, 2008 by 2 Comments
I ran across an article stating the United States Army believes that using Apple X Serve servers in Army data centers are proving their worth. How? Because most attacks are designed for Windows and not for Mac. The first two comments on that article pretty much say it all: Comment 1: …I suspect that in [...]
How to Get Original Drivers For Your Dell Laptop or Desktop
January 7, 2008 by 3 Comments
Have you ever had to “rebuild” your Dell laptop or desktop with a fresh install of the operating system (most likely Windows XP)? The easiest way to get all the drivers is to head over to support.dell.com, punch in your service tag and all the drivers for your specific computer will be readily available for [...]
