Mrs. Mecomber's Scrapbook

Talking technology, computers, and the Internet… for the average computer user

Archive for category computers

Super Quality Cam For Business Calls

Sep 1

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in Internet, business services, computers, desktop publishing, networking | No Comments

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of faceVsion Technology USA. All opinions are 100% mine.

I’ve been on a few business trips. I like them, overall– it’s a nice opportunity to get out of the house. But it must be extremely laborious to go on business trips regularly (and expensive, too!). Sure, there’s always video conference calls… but I have tried Skype and Windows Live, and… let’s just say that the quality leaves something to be desired. Very “skippy” and blotchy. And, really, for a video conference call to look and feel professional, you really need a nice web cam. Those cheesy little $30 ones just won’t do when you’re discussing you next big idea to the boss.

Thankfully, technology is swelling with options to make conference calls easier and affordable for the small business person. The best I’ve seen on the market so far is faceVsion. FaceVision does what other HD cams, such as Microsoft Cinema and Logitech Pro 9000, cannot do– stream high resolution live video over the Internet with clarity. The FV Express Combo from FaceVision Technology USA has a special chipset and encoder/decoder to provide really clear video. The nice thing is that it’s affordable, too. You can make video calls through Gmail, too– the FV Express Combo allows you to sync your Gmail contact list to your HD contact list.

There’s much more to the faceVision technology– see the faceVision on line store for more details and a good intro video. There’s a great promotion going on– save $10 off any purchase with the promo code FVTBTS2 . This ends on September 30, 2010, so don’t delay.

Fv

Visit my sponsor: FaceVsion FV Express Combo HD Video Conferencing

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A Review of McGruff SafeGuard Internet Monitoring Software

Sep 1

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in computers, crime, free programs, surveillance | No Comments

I’m not too pleased with this one. It messed up my computer! That’s too bad, because I think it is, overall, a very effective program when it works correctly.

A discussion by young mothers on Twitter caused me to look into Internet filtering software again (see my brief review of Blue Coat K-9 software). Their kids are just beginning to stretch their wings and go on the computers. There’s a lot more to be concerned about today, than when my kids were just starting out on computers, even 10 years ago. Back then, the filth wasn’t in one’s face… today, a LOT has changed.

So I wanted to test out a free Internet monitoring software program that I’d heard about, McGruff SafeGuard. I signed up for an account and downloaded the program.

From there, it was about two hours of screaming at the computer as it rebooted and rebooted and rebooted. It was possessed. I still don’t know what happened!

OK, back to the beginning: I installed McGruff SafeGuard, using all the “recommended” configuration choices. One little window among dozens popped up, saying that McGruff SafeGuard might experience problems because the computer had Vista Service Pack 2. I had the option to stop the installation, or continue. Well, I’ve dealt with programs that have had all sorts of problems with Vista! If the SafeGuard software seemed buggy, I’d just uninstall it. So I clicked “Next.”

Whoa. Bad move. The thing went bananas. It wanted to uninstall all sorts of stuff from the operating system, including my NVIDIA App Filter. The thing rebooted, and Windows went wonky. Data Execution app closed, a number of other online programs (IM, web browser, anti-virus) closed, and then Windows said it was restarting in one minute. And it kept restarting, again and again! I tried to get into Safe Mode to uninstall McGriff SafeGuard, or at least do a System Restore.. nope! I was livid– I couldn’t even get into Safe Mode?!

Now, I understand that it must be difficult for software vendors keep up with ALL the Windows operating systems, updates, and service packs. And it doesn’t help that *some* software makers intentionally make it very difficult to install and maintain monitoring software (not to mention, a wholesome computer environment). So it must be tough for McGruff and others to constantly be changing their software. But for heaven’s sake, PLEASE mention this on the website or something! I scoured the website for mention of fatal errors and problems with Vista the program… nothing. The only slightest heads up I had was with the “you may experience some problems with Vista Service Pack 2″ while I was installing it. :-p It said I may have “problems.” Didn’t mention that the program would kill my computer!

I finally dumped the software. Windows only gave me one minute to do anything before it shut down and restarted again, so as soon as it booted up, I typed very quickly to uninstall McGruff SafeGuard. It took me 6 tries (the computer is kind of slow, lol). In the end, I wasn’t able to fully uninstall the program in one minute’s time, but I uninstalled enough files to force McGruff SafeGuard to abort itself. This allowed me to go into System Restore and roll back the computer files.

Whew!

I again searched for any mention of such problems (any problems) on the McGruff website. Not a peep. Too bad. There’s no telephone support, either. I had to email my urgent message. I got an email response in about 2 hours, but by then, I had figured out a way to disable the program.

I hear good things about McGruff SafeGuard among Windows XP users. But if you have Vista, beware. Who uses XP anymore?!

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A Flexible VoIP iPod, iPhone App

Sep 1

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in computers, electronics, networking | No Comments

I’ve been researching various voip options, both for my home phone service and my iPod. Phone service is SOOO expensive. It’s crazy, how expensive it is! And cell phone service is even more expensive. I just don’t understand why, after all these years, service is still so pricey. Voip, or Voice Over Internet Protocol, is a digital voice service through a computer. And now, it’s also through the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. I have an iPod Touch– a very basic one– that I love. I’d like to look into getting an iPad or iPhone sometime in the near future… but I dislike paying the sky-high prices for cellular service.

There’s a terrific new app I have heard about called Line2. It’s gotten a good review from PCMag, and is available on the AppSafari’s site. It’s touted as a “very flexible” iPod Touch voip, although it can be used for voip iPhone and iPad. There’s a good video at the site. Looks very easy to use.

It is expensive, $15 a month. But that’s still a lot less than cell phone service ($70/month for the most basic plan), and there’s no long-term contract. Of course, voip is more of a supplement than a full-fledged phone plan… but still, it’s a great option. And Line2 apparently is able to make calls when the cell service signal is weak or non-existent. That’s pretty cool.

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Everybody Can Be a .007

Sep 1

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in computers, surveillance | No Comments

About a week ago, a buzzword amongst some of the Twitter moms was filtering and monitoring software for the kids. You really can’t be too careful. The Internet is a wonderful place, but holy cow is it full of trash. What a shame. Like television– what a wonderful tool for ministry and education– but rather for enriching people’s lives, it makes them poorer by filling their thoughts and hearts with evil, degenerate trash (most of the time). I certainly hate to see the Internet becoming this way!

Anyway, there are some very good reasons for installing filtering and monitoring software on the computer. The word “keylogger” has negative connotations, but for keeping an eye on kids and keeping an eye on wayward employees, monitoring and filtering software is a good idea. I’ve tried out a few freebies in my time. I haven’t been terribly happy with any of them. They are either lacking something, too bloated, or so buggy that I wind up fixing my computer! I am heartily in favor of purchasing software of this nature. You have more leverage with the company, should something go wrong, and free software makers rarely offer any kind of meaningful support. SpyAgent or SentryPC look like something good for children’s computers– it’s a simple program that blocks unsuitable Internet content, logs activity, and notifies parents. I’d really like to see a very sophisticated filter that would, say, allow kids to view good YouTube videos but block bad YouTube videos. I know that’s probably too specific for any software. Only a good parent/child relationship can do that. But still, I HATE it when my kids accidentally stumble onto disgusting images and videos!! Grr!!

Remember, in some cases it is illegal to install spyware on a computer. For parents and business owners, it is a good idea– just make sure you inform the computer user of the software.

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Dell Server Computers Shipped With Virus

Jul 24

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in computers, news | No Comments

That‘s gotta hurt.

Dell has inadvertently shipped replacement motherboards for its PowerEdge servers that are infected with the Spybot worm. The malware affects servers running Windows, but not other operating systems.

The worm can be triggered if users run an update to either the Unified Server Configurator (USC) or 32-bit Diagnostics on the server.

According to a Dell employee posting to the PowerEdge server support forum, “the W32.Spybot worm was discovered in flash storage on the motherboard during Dell testing.” The worm, which is not part of the firmware, can be blocked by “all industry-standard antivirus programs on the market today,” he said.

Did you notice that word “inadvertently” in the first sentence? No one “inadvertently” installs malware onto a motherboard. It is PLACED there. I’m not saying Dell did it. But SOMEONE surely did.

Dell is being rather secretive about how the malware got there, and is being criticized for taking slow action. Weird.

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