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Geek Travel To London From the US — Tips?
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~3/VgIta5CcVyg/Geek-Travel-To-London-From-the-US-mdash-Tips
Audrey23 writes "I am traveling to London from Washington state for two weeks in December for pleasure (use-it-or-lose-it vacation scenario) and was wondering if I should bother bringing my laptop. I know that I would have to change the region code on my wireless amongst other things and the power cord would have to be changed for a UK outlet. Would I be better off not bringing my laptop and just using Internet kiosks (do they exist in London?) or would having my laptop be a better choice to keep in touch, off-load my digital images etc? I plan on hitting the British Museum but was wondering what geeky things to do that are in London that might be worth going to and any tips hints on overseas travel for geeks? I travel quite a bit in the states but this will be my first trip overseas and want to make the best of my stay in merry old England. What words of advice do you travel seasoned geeks have for me?"<p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/24/0248240/Geek-Travel-To-London-From-the-US-mdash-Tips?from=rss"><img src="http://ask.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/11/24/0248240"></a></p><p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/24/0248240/Geek-Travel-To-London-From-the-US-mdash-Tips?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/9jjDwRLiKvBG__1oatZNXfmHyM0/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/9jjDwRLiKvBG__1oatZNXfmHyM0/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/>
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/9jjDwRLiKvBG__1oatZNXfmHyM0/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/9jjDwRLiKvBG__1oatZNXfmHyM0/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~4/VgIta5CcVyg" height="1" width="1"/>timothy2009-11-24T10:30:00+00:00earthsee-the-largest-paired-bluetooth-devicesaskslashdot834834,830,664,468,77,38,26http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/24/0248240/Geek-Travel-To-London-From-the-US-mdash-Tips?from=rssSimple, Free Web Remote PC Control?
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~3/_IvD9Bm6QBs/Simple-Free-Web-Remote-PC-Control
MeatballCB writes "Hey folks. Being the 'technical' guy of the family, I often get calls from friends and family members when they're having PC issues. Most of these folks are not technical, so trying to troubleshoot problems over the phone can often be a challenge. Anyone know of a simple-to-use and (preferably) free service that would allow for remote viewing/control of their PCs? I know there's WebEx and GoToMyPC, but I hate to pay for something I'd use once every two months. I also know about VNC, but trying to walk someone through opening up ports on their router that thinks their Internet is broken when their homepage gets changed is not realistic. Anyone know of anything that would be easy to set up and use?"<p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/22/2037219/Simple-Free-Web-Remote-PC-Control?from=rss"><img src="http://ask.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/11/22/2037219"></a></p><p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/22/2037219/Simple-Free-Web-Remote-PC-Control?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/7B_8prPnNlCTpvy2_CLC-uPlGAI/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/7B_8prPnNlCTpvy2_CLC-uPlGAI/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/>
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/7B_8prPnNlCTpvy2_CLC-uPlGAI/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/7B_8prPnNlCTpvy2_CLC-uPlGAI/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~4/_IvD9Bm6QBs" height="1" width="1"/>timothy2009-11-22T21:42:00+00:00guiremote-viewing-the-cia-wayaskslashdot442442,435,296,153,39,24,18http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/22/2037219/Simple-Free-Web-Remote-PC-Control?from=rssBest Practices For Infrastructure Upgrade?
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~3/-FbKI1vZgds/Best-Practices-For-Infrastructure-Upgrade
An anonymous reader writes "I was put in charge of an aging IT infrastructure that needs a serious overhaul. Current services include the usual suspects, i.e. www, ftp, email, dns, firewall, DHCP — and some more. In most cases, each service runs on its own hardware, some of them for the last seven years straight. The machines still can (mostly) handle the load that ~150 people in multiple offices put on them, but there's hardly any fallback if any of the services die or an office is disconnected. Now, as the hardware must be replaced, I'd like to buff things up a bit: distributed instances of services (at least one instance per office) and a fallback/load-balancing scheme (either to an instance in another office or a duplicated one within the same). Services running on virtualized servers hosted by a single reasonably-sized machine per office (plus one for testing and a spare) seem to recommend themselves. What's you experience with virtualization of services and implementing fallback/load-balancing schemes? What's Best Practice for an update like this? I'm interested in your success stories and anecdotes, but also pointers and (book) references. Thanks!"<p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/21/2234216/Best-Practices-For-Infrastructure-Upgrade?from=rss"><img src="http://ask.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/11/21/2234216"></a></p><p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/21/2234216/Best-Practices-For-Infrastructure-Upgrade?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/B0YAyuRqak_l8AqY6wyWfSGpplc/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/B0YAyuRqak_l8AqY6wyWfSGpplc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/>
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/B0YAyuRqak_l8AqY6wyWfSGpplc/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/B0YAyuRqak_l8AqY6wyWfSGpplc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~4/-FbKI1vZgds" height="1" width="1"/>timothy2009-11-21T22:50:00+00:00networkingthinking-aheadaskslashdot253253,249,208,153,36,17,12http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/21/2234216/Best-Practices-For-Infrastructure-Upgrade?from=rssLinus Torvalds For Nobel Peace Prize?
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~3/oNlgBzTr3Kg/Linus-Torvalds-For-Nobel-Peace-Prize
An anonymous reader writes "I'm as much of a Linux fanboy as anyone else, but I've never thought of anything in computing as being worth a Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently, there are those who take global collaboration seriously, though..." The suggestion has been bouncing around the Portland Linux community, where Torvalds lives. Is it worthy of wider attention and discussion?<p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/20/1352234/Linus-Torvalds-For-Nobel-Peace-Prize?from=rss"><img src="http://ask.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/11/20/1352234"></a></p><p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/20/1352234/Linus-Torvalds-For-Nobel-Peace-Prize?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/AaIBMF5HS1DpEICkf_1glyqCQ5g/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/AaIBMF5HS1DpEICkf_1glyqCQ5g/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/>
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/AaIBMF5HS1DpEICkf_1glyqCQ5g/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/AaIBMF5HS1DpEICkf_1glyqCQ5g/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~4/oNlgBzTr3Kg" height="1" width="1"/>kdawson2009-11-20T16:36:00+00:00linuxnice-step-towards-world-dominationaskslashdot525525,519,398,298,75,51,36http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/20/1352234/Linus-Torvalds-For-Nobel-Peace-Prize?from=rssSynchronize Data Between Linux, OS X, and Windows?
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~3/CF6QRKeTn9E/Synchronize-Data-Between-Linux-OS-X-and-Windows
aaaaaaargh! writes "I'm using a laptop with Ubuntu 8.04 for work, a netbook with Ubuntu 9.10 when I'm outside, Mac OS X 10.5 for hobby projects, and Windows XP for gaming. For backups, I'm currently using Jungle Disk and Apple's Time Machine, and I use a local svn repository for my work data. Now I need to frequently exchange and synchronize OpenOffice and Latex files and source code in various cross-platform programming languages between one machine and another. Options range from putting everything online (but Jungle Disk disks seem to be too slow for anything else than backup), storing my data on external media like USB sticks or SD cards, or working with copies by synchronizing folders over the network. I don't want to give my data away to some server outside without strong encryption (controlled by me, including the source code) and external media like USB sticks are a bit too fragile according to my taste. The solution should be reliable, relatively failsafe, as simple as possible, and allow me to continue to use Jungle Disk for backup. So what would you recommend?"<p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/19/2059221/Synchronize-Data-Between-Linux-OS-X-and-Windows?from=rss"><img src="http://ask.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/11/19/2059221"></a></p><p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/19/2059221/Synchronize-Data-Between-Linux-OS-X-and-Windows?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/vkOTsXe6meCAteA8MX2VUaEPHB4/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/vkOTsXe6meCAteA8MX2VUaEPHB4/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/>
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/vkOTsXe6meCAteA8MX2VUaEPHB4/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/vkOTsXe6meCAteA8MX2VUaEPHB4/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~4/CF6QRKeTn9E" height="1" width="1"/>timothy2009-11-19T21:30:00+00:00storageplease-be-more-specificaskslashdot303303,302,239,167,44,19,13http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/19/2059221/Synchronize-Data-Between-Linux-OS-X-and-Windows?from=rssMaking Old Games Look Good On Modern LCDs?
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~3/pPYtFW9LqRs/Making-Old-Games-Look-Good-On-Modern-LCDs
75th Trombone writes "I'm a fan of several old PC games — the Myst series, StarCraft, Diablo, etc — with 2D graphics that run at a low, fixed resolution. These games all look horrible on modern LCDs. If you run them at their original resolution, they're tiny, and if you upscale them they get all sorts of blurry, pixelly smoothing artifacts. My ideal goal is to run these games at exactly double their original resolution — running 640 x 480 games at 1280 x 960, for example — so that each original pixel takes up exactly a 2 x 2 block of screen pixels, yielding graphics that are perfectly crisp and decently big. I've tried arcane settings in graphics card drivers (new and old), I've tried forcing the OS to run at a given resolution, and I've tried PowerStrip, all to no avail. Short of writing a new, modern engine for my favorite games, is there a reasonable solution to this problem?" There have been many community-supported graphical overhauls of classic games — feel free to share any you know to work well.<p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/17/0039243/Making-Old-Games-Look-Good-On-Modern-LCDs?from=rss"><img src="http://ask.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/11/17/0039243"></a></p><p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/17/0039243/Making-Old-Games-Look-Good-On-Modern-LCDs?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/hwejuaga6ti7dquplx805cI1aU4/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/hwejuaga6ti7dquplx805cI1aU4/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/>
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/hwejuaga6ti7dquplx805cI1aU4/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/hwejuaga6ti7dquplx805cI1aU4/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~4/pPYtFW9LqRs" height="1" width="1"/>Soulskill2009-11-17T07:05:00+00:00graphics+1-pixelblock-of-smitingaskslashdot367367,362,295,216,44,28,17http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/17/0039243/Making-Old-Games-Look-Good-On-Modern-LCDs?from=rssAre There Affordable Low-DPI Large-Screen LCD Monitors?
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~3/mIkoeKFUhro/Are-There-Affordable-Low-DPI-Large-Screen-LCD-Monitors
jtownatpunk.net writes "As time goes by, I find myself supporting a greater number of users moving through their 40s and into their 50s (and beyond!). I notice more and more of them are lowering the resolution of their displays in order to 'make it bigger.' That was fine in the CRT days, but, quite frankly, LCDs look like crap when they're not displaying their native resolution. My solution at home is to hook my computer up to a big, honkin' 1080p HDTV, but that's a bit of a political risk in an office environment. 'Why does Bill get a freakin' big screen TV?!' Plus, it's a waste to be paying for the extra inputs (component, s-video, composite), remote, tuner, etc. that will never be used. And a 37-47" display is a bit large for a desk. So here's my question: Is there a source for 24-27" monitors running at 1366x768 that are affordable and don't have all of the 'TV' stuff? Or is my only choice to just buy 27" HDTVs and admonish the users not to watch TV? (And, no, just giving them big CRTs is not an option. Most people would rather stare at a fuzzy LCD than 'go back' to a CRT.)"<p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/16/2111206/Are-There-Affordable-Low-DPI-Large-Screen-LCD-Monitors?from=rss"><img src="http://ask.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/11/16/2111206"></a></p><p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/16/2111206/Are-There-Affordable-Low-DPI-Large-Screen-LCD-Monitors?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/C3l1P5uTDmM2xvjpWb7lxmz0vZw/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/C3l1P5uTDmM2xvjpWb7lxmz0vZw/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/>
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/C3l1P5uTDmM2xvjpWb7lxmz0vZw/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/C3l1P5uTDmM2xvjpWb7lxmz0vZw/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~4/mIkoeKFUhro" height="1" width="1"/>timothy2009-11-16T21:18:00+00:00displaysspecial-retro-editionaskslashdot548548,541,450,336,63,28,22http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/16/2111206/Are-There-Affordable-Low-DPI-Large-Screen-LCD-Monitors?from=rssSoftware Piracy At the Workplace?
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~3/hYKeTSRkjG4/Software-Piracy-At-the-Workplace
An anonymous reader writes "What does one do when a good portion of the application software at your workplace is pirated? Bringing this up did not endear me at all to the president of the company. I was given a flat 'We don't pirate software,' and 'We must have paid for it at some point.' Given that I was only able to find one burnt copy of Office Pro with a Google-able CD-Key, and that version of Office is on at least 20 computers, I'm not convinced. Some of the legit software in the company has been installed on more than one computer, such as Adobe Acrobat. Nevertheless I have been called on to install dubious software on multiple occasions. As for shareware, what strategies do you use to convince management to allow the purchase of commonly used utilities? If an installation of WinZip reports thousands of uses, I think the software developer deserves a bit o' coin for it. When I told management that WinZip has a timeout counter that counts off one second per file previously opened, they tried to implement a policy of wait for it, do something else, and come back later, rather than spend the money. Also, some software is free for home and educational use only, like AVG Free. What do you when management ignores this?"<p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/13/1440208/Software-Piracy-At-the-Workplace?from=rss"><img src="http://ask.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/11/13/1440208"></a></p><p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/13/1440208/Software-Piracy-At-the-Workplace?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/_09VzOTx45sr7cVe-pEO9lRkX00/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/_09VzOTx45sr7cVe-pEO9lRkX00/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/>
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/_09VzOTx45sr7cVe-pEO9lRkX00/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/_09VzOTx45sr7cVe-pEO9lRkX00/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~4/hYKeTSRkjG4" height="1" width="1"/>kdawson2009-11-13T17:18:00+00:00businessanonymous-call-to-the-bsaaskslashdot10051005,1003,755,581,105,63,38http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/13/1440208/Software-Piracy-At-the-Workplace?from=rssRecovering the Slums of the Internet?
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~3/7uoKWrODl_Q/Recovering-the-Slums-of-the-Internet
turtleshadow writes "Brian Krebs of the Security Fix Blog analyzes the McColo Spamming one year later and asks an interesting question: 'How does one renovate and recoup the lost trust to the slums of the Internet and reclaim back all the domains and IPs that have been blacklisted?' Indeed, the economic benefits abound when a huge swath of illegal and annoying activity ceases — but given the basic design of the Internet, what happens over the long run to IP space and DNS when hosting companies come and go and vary in their trustworthiness? So too, now Geocities is dead [as a business], but does that still live in your filter list? It still appears in OpenDNS under several policy categories. How, in a few years, will I tell if some Hosting/Colo sold me Whitechapel Road/Ventura Avenue for Mayfair/Boardwalk prices, and no one is going to accept my mail from a former slum? When do you, if ever, roll back the blacklists and filters for 'dead' threats and spammers?"<p><a href="http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/11/12/2251209/Recovering-the-Slums-of-the-Internet?from=rss"><img src="http://ask.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/11/12/2251209"></a></p><p><a href="http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/11/12/2251209/Recovering-the-Slums-of-the-Internet?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/sq5Ngw7DekFcscPtkxw7bHfNIJA/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/sq5Ngw7DekFcscPtkxw7bHfNIJA/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/>
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/sq5Ngw7DekFcscPtkxw7bHfNIJA/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/sq5Ngw7DekFcscPtkxw7bHfNIJA/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~4/7uoKWrODl_Q" height="1" width="1"/>timothy2009-11-12T22:57:00+00:00internetenglish-monopoly-namestechnology218218,214,174,137,38,18,11http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/11/12/2251209/Recovering-the-Slums-of-the-Internet?from=rssUsing Drupal For Company Intranet; What To Expect?
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~3/W0s05m4Zh9w/Using-Drupal-For-Company-Intranet-What-To-Expect
jjbliss writes "I am in the beginning stages of setting-up our company intranet. I have done some research and think that Drupal is the right CMS to use for this as it is very rich-featured, free and open-source yet well-supported, has a broad user and development community, and seems to be customizable to the degree that I need it to be. My question for Slashdot is who out there is using Drupal for this purpose? What have been your biggest issues in getting up and running? What should I know going into it? I am fairly proficient with HTML, CSS, Javascript, LAMP, etc. What sort of learning curve will there be in developing within Drupal? Are there any experts out there that we could bring in when I hit a problem that is over my head to fix? Where do you recommend finding them?"<p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/12/2217201/Using-Drupal-For-Company-Intranet-What-To-Expect?from=rss"><img src="http://ask.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/11/12/2217201"></a></p><p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/12/2217201/Using-Drupal-For-Company-Intranet-What-To-Expect?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/7AZ6ChHe86TV5NogIch8M-AGnh8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/7AZ6ChHe86TV5NogIch8M-AGnh8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/>
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/7AZ6ChHe86TV5NogIch8M-AGnh8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/7AZ6ChHe86TV5NogIch8M-AGnh8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~4/W0s05m4Zh9w" height="1" width="1"/>timothy2009-11-12T22:30:00+00:00softwaretriplets-and-an-irs-auditaskslashdot2020,20,16,5,0,0,0http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/12/2217201/Using-Drupal-For-Company-Intranet-What-To-Expect?from=rssEasing the Job of Family Tech Support?
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~3/qRcAN3M_aEE/Easing-the-Job-of-Family-Tech-Support
DarkDevil writes "Ever since I was introduced to computers at a very young age, I've been the resident tech support for a household of 7 users. I've been in a cycle for the last ~8 years where something happens to my parents' computer, I spend a week or two trying to non-destructively fix the problem (and try to explain to the users what caused it and how to avoid it), and then if it's not easily fixed I'll reformat and start from scratch. Most often, the level of infection warrants a reformat, which usually ends up taking even more time to get the computer back to how my parents know how to use it. 4-8 months later, it happens again. Recently, I found ~380 instances of malware and 6 viruses. I only realized something was wrong with their computer after it slowed down the entire network whenever anyone used it. My question for Slashdot is: are there any resources out there that explain computer viruses, malware, adware, and general safe computer practices to non-technical people in an easy-to-digest format? The security flaws in my house are 9, 26, and ~50 years old, with no technical background aside from surfing the internet. Something in video format would be ideal as they are perfectly happy with our current arrangement and so it'll be hard to get them reading pages and pages of technical papers."<p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/12/1633229/Easing-the-Job-of-Family-Tech-Support?from=rss"><img src="http://ask.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/11/12/1633229"></a></p><p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/12/1633229/Easing-the-Job-of-Family-Tech-Support?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/TuSh4HBSuRcKIYEIlvkA-5WiCM0/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/TuSh4HBSuRcKIYEIlvkA-5WiCM0/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/>
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/TuSh4HBSuRcKIYEIlvkA-5WiCM0/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/TuSh4HBSuRcKIYEIlvkA-5WiCM0/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~4/qRcAN3M_aEE" height="1" width="1"/>Soulskill2009-11-12T17:10:00+00:00securityshock-collars-and-a-willingness-to-yellaskslashdot932932,925,676,461,102,62,37http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/12/1633229/Easing-the-Job-of-Family-Tech-Support?from=rssBest Tool For Remembering Passwords?
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~3/4gOE1j6H8o0/Best-Tool-For-Remembering-Passwords
StonyCreekBare writes "Lately I've been rethinking my personal security practices. Should my laptop be stolen, having Firefox 'fill in' passwords automatically for me when I go to my bank's site seems sub-optimal. Keeping passwords for all the varied sites on the computer in a plain-text file seems unwise as well. Keeping them in my brain is a prescription for disaster, as my brain is increasingly leaky. A paper notepad likewise has its disadvantages. I have looked at a number of password managers, password 'vaults' and so on. The number of tools out there is a bit overwhelming. Magic Password Generator add-in for Firefox seems competent, but it's tied to Firefox, and I have other places and applications where I want passwords. And I might be accessing my sites from other computers that don't have it installed. The ideal tool in my mind should be something that is independent of any application, browser, or computer; something that is easily carried, but which if lost poses no risk of compromise. What does the Slashdot crowd like in password tools?"<p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/10/2045258/Best-Tool-For-Remembering-Passwords?from=rss"><img src="http://ask.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/11/10/2045258"></a></p><p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/10/2045258/Best-Tool-For-Remembering-Passwords?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/-_06aZ2tuRXacx_CdTLBOg9a9WY/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/-_06aZ2tuRXacx_CdTLBOg9a9WY/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/>
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/-_06aZ2tuRXacx_CdTLBOg9a9WY/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/-_06aZ2tuRXacx_CdTLBOg9a9WY/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~4/4gOE1j6H8o0" height="1" width="1"/>kdawson2009-11-11T01:30:00+00:00securityencrypted-plain-text-file-on-a-stickaskslashdot10071007,1006,753,439,75,33,26http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/10/2045258/Best-Tool-For-Remembering-Passwords?from=rssReporting To Executives
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~3/IH4t9bKzjF4/Reporting-To-Executives
chopsuei3 writes "As a System Administrator, I am charged with providing more insight into the functioning of the system. What types of reports and information do other System Administrators submit to executives and on what frequency? Measurements such as uptime and average page latency are useful, but our site is relatively stable and we see minimal downtime, so I'm looking for other important and useful information I can report up to better illustrate my efforts. Our system is also unique in that about 70% of the traffic we see is from devices and not human browsers. I am a lone System Administrator in a 20-person company which specializes in web-based irrigation management. I also simultaneously perform all IT-related tasks in the office, which may also be important to report up to executives on regular basis."<p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/09/1429230/Reporting-To-Executives?from=rss"><img src="http://ask.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/11/09/1429230"></a></p><p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/09/1429230/Reporting-To-Executives?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/P1eifEIa3SHxDRu8rScQV_bCDXM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/P1eifEIa3SHxDRu8rScQV_bCDXM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/>
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/P1eifEIa3SHxDRu8rScQV_bCDXM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/P1eifEIa3SHxDRu8rScQV_bCDXM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~4/IH4t9bKzjF4" height="1" width="1"/>CmdrTaco2009-11-09T14:38:00+00:00itjustify-your-existenceaskslashdot301301,295,233,176,55,33,23http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/09/1429230/Reporting-To-Executives?from=rssReusing Old TiVo Hardware?
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~3/fmlHrEPIDXU/Reusing-Old-TiVo-Hardware
buss_error writes "I have old TiVo hardware that I'd like to reuse — however, I find in searching that the most frequent reply is: 'Don't cheat TiVo!' I don't want to cheat TiVo — in fact, I'd like to nuke the drive with a completely open-source distro with no TiVo drivers at all. Some uses I think would be interesting: recording video for security cameras or a drive cam; a unit for weather reporting; fax/telephone; a power monitor for the home; or other home automation. I would prefer a completely TiVo-free install — this is because I have major issues with TiVo and don't want the slightest taint of their intellectual property. But, since I paid for the hardware, I'd like to wring some use out of it rather than simply putting it in the landfill."<p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/08/1659227/Reusing-Old-TiVo-Hardware?from=rss"><img src="http://ask.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/11/08/1659227"></a></p><p><a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/08/1659227/Reusing-Old-TiVo-Hardware?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/fhN7KlcZ-cgdyo-kIQgJ0NFuBtk/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/fhN7KlcZ-cgdyo-kIQgJ0NFuBtk/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/>
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/fhN7KlcZ-cgdyo-kIQgJ0NFuBtk/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/fhN7KlcZ-cgdyo-kIQgJ0NFuBtk/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~4/fmlHrEPIDXU" height="1" width="1"/>Soulskill2009-11-08T17:17:00+00:00hardhackself-warming-feline-nap-stationaskslashdot197197,191,155,122,39,27,22http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/08/1659227/Reusing-Old-TiVo-Hardware?from=rssSimple, Cost-Effective, Multiroom Audio?
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~3/6v-j4z13j8Q/Simple-Cost-Effective-Multiroom-Audio
jimicus writes "I'd like a multiroom audio system but I'm thoroughly confused by the options available — and the difference in prices is huge. For instance, Philips have a wireless system which starts at around £280 — and Russound have a product which comes in around £1,000. I've already got all my music as MP3s and it lives on a NAS box — I don't really want to repeat that process. I also have a perfectly capable amp and speakers in my living room, so I don't really need anything else there. Whatever I go for has to pass the wife test — so something which requires a separate amp, speakers and PC in each room and requires a keyboard to control is right out. I don't mind spending a little money but I don't really want to find that every little extra thing adds up to £thousands. Has anyone else dealt with a similar problem? How did you solve it?"<p><a href="http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/11/07/2256218/Simple-Cost-Effective-Multiroom-Audio?from=rss"><img src="http://ask.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/11/07/2256218"></a></p><p><a href="http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/11/07/2256218/Simple-Cost-Effective-Multiroom-Audio?from=rss">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/MuBahTF1BRhTGpQ3mf9TMSUl0Do/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/MuBahTF1BRhTGpQ3mf9TMSUl0Do/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/>
<a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/MuBahTF1BRhTGpQ3mf9TMSUl0Do/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/MuBahTF1BRhTGpQ3mf9TMSUl0Do/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotAskSlashdot/~4/6v-j4z13j8Q" height="1" width="1"/>timothy2009-11-07T23:00:00+00:00musicpowered-monitors-and-long-cableshardware438438,436,321,217,53,40,25http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/11/07/2256218/Simple-Cost-Effective-Multiroom-Audio?from=rssSearch SlashdotSearch Slashdot storiesquery
http://ask.slashdot.org/search.pl