Technology Tips, News and Reviews • Technically Easy

Keep Your Network Safe with a Proxy Firewall

January 17, 2011 by Paul Salmon

The Money Saving Perks of a Virtual Office

A proxy firewall, otherwise known as a network/proxy server firewall or simply ‘firewall’, is a virtual security appliance that runs on a host computer or server machine and works at the application level. A proxy firewall is a form of packet filtering device, whereby both outgoing and incoming packets (usually in an organization’s intranet) are … Read more

Does the Look of a Blog Matter?

January 14, 2011 by Paul Salmon

A few months ago I had performance issues with my blog. To reduce the performance issue, I quickly redesigned the template of my blog by creating a more simple, basic design. This new design, while not the best looking template, loads quickly and contains all the links I had on my previous template.

While my new template isn’t the best looking, it does serve its purpose. I have been wondering if I should be changing the template to something more professional looking but have decided against it for the time being. I have been wondering if the look of a blog really matters to the visitors?

How to Create a Blog Using Windows

January 13, 2011 by Paul Salmon

Nothing personifies the internet like a blog. A blog of course being an online journal, organized by date and containing frequently updated information pertaining to the the blogs content. Because of their ability to broadcast information, blogs are quickly becoming a way of communication. A way to share your information with the masses. Thus the need to know how to create a blog has become pertinent.

With so many blogging options out there how do you know which option is the right one for you and your windows computer?

What is a DSLR Camera?

January 12, 2011 by Paul Salmon

DSLR, or digital single lens reflex, is a type of digital camera that’s typically a grade-above the more mainstream Point-and-Shoot compact digital camera, as well as what are known as advanced digital cameras (aka ‘bridge-cams’). To help you grasp the concept of the DSLR, let’s first take a basic look at the original SLR.

The SLR has long been the only type of camera advanced amateurs and professionals would use and, largely, still is. The concept is fairly simple: most film SLR’s have an interchangeable lens, a semi-automatic mirror, pentaprism, AF sensor, shutter, and view-finder (among other, more technical items). Most used (notice the past tense used here–as film-based SLR’s are practically extinct) a 35mm-based film and could be outfitted with a large array of autofocus (AF) and manual lenses.

Fast-forward to the present: DSLR cameras have largely replaced the venerable SLR. Digital SLR’s use many of the same concepts (especially the interchangeable lens concept) and even some of the same mechanical parts as SLR’s, but employ much more sophisticated hardware such as computerized processors, CMOS circuits, and an LCD viewfinder.

5 Popular Blog Posting Software

January 11, 2011 by Paul Salmon

There are many popular blog posting software available for anyone to use. The best part about them is that many of them are free to use. Some may require a monthly fee, while the more professional software requires you to purchase a hosting plan.

Regardless of which you choose, it is important to ensure that you always write good, quality, and unique content to make your blog standout from the crowd. If you do that, then you may be on your way to becoming a successful blogger. Let’s look at some of the more popular blog posting software options.

Do You Think About Your Home’s Internal Network Security?

January 10, 2011 by Paul Salmon

Home networks are quite common in many of today’s households. These days, it’s actually quite the norm for the average family to have networking equipment in their home. Having a network in the home makes it a lot easier for computers and other devices to communicate with each other as well as share an internet connection. Yes, home networks provide extremely helpful features to computers, but lots of people forget that internal network security is a big issue with these networks. Many don’t know exactly how to secure their network, and there are many that don’t even take it into consideration.

Internal network security is imperative for a number of reasons. It’s important to secure your home network so that you can keep outside intruders from accessing your network and files, minimize threats like viruses and spyware, and more. For example, if you were to leave your home network unsecured, an intruder could easily access the network and do something like change your login information for you router so that he/she could gain complete control over the device. Even worse, he/she could access confidential files that you wouldn’t want the public tampering with.

Start The New Year With Computer Security in Mind

February 26, 2015January 5, 2011 by Paul Salmon

Now that the holidays are over, and we are once again settling into our daily routine, we tend to start doing things we have put off until the holidays were over. We go back to our usual activities, whether it is work or school, and continue life as it was before the holiday rush.

Now is a good time to take a look at your computer security, and setup, to make sure that your computer isn’t compromised in any way. Having a compromised computer can be dangerous, especially if any of your data is accessed. There are a few preventive measures you can take to help increase your computer security.

Why the Length of the WPA Passphrase is Important

October 12, 2011December 29, 2010 by Paul Salmon

One of the most common issues that my visitors contact me about is that they have difficulty saving the passphrase for their WRT54G wireless router when securing the router with WPA. Many times the problem is resolved once they use Internet Explorer instead of another web browser. Other times, however, switching browsers may not even correct the problem.

With web browsers such as Firefox and Chrome, you have the ability to install add-ins to change many settings and functions within the browser. At times, certain add-ins can interfere with the router’s administrative pages, resulting in settings not being saved or message boxes from appearing. A recent commenter in my explaining how to secure the WRT54G wireless router pointed out that there is a minimum passphrase length, but many people may not receive a popup message, which can lead to confusion and issues. For the WRT54G, the minimum length is 8 characters , and the maximum is 63 characters. When it comes to a passphrase, you should definitely go longer than the minimum of 8 characters. Let’s look at why the passphrase, and its length, is important when securing a wireless router.