computer

Infopackets Reader 'feckinbricks' writes: " Dear Dennis I am trying to find a program for a friend who cannot read or write in order to assist him in being able to use his computer -- and maybe even have the program teach him some skills in the ... process. He loves his computer but can not use it to the capacity that he would like to. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! " My response: Great question. There are two things that are universal when using a computer for literate and non-literate users: and that is it requires (and provides) both input and output in order ... (view more)

Starting July 1st, 2009 all PCs sold in China are to include Internet content filtering and censorship software also known as " Green Dam Youth Escort software ." The program works by creating log files of all the sites and pages the user tries to ... access. Software Flaws Leave Users Vulnerable Computer experts discovered a series of software flaws, including unencrypted communications between the company's servers and the software itself. It's suggested that the software is susceptible to large-scale disaster, including hackers that could steal private user information or install ... (view more)

A government audit has found more than 3,800 vulnerabilities were reportedly found in the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) web-based air traffic control system applications. 763 of the vulnerabilities are high-risk and some could put air ... travelers at risk. Congress requested the audit of air traffic control (ATC) computer systems in order to ensure air travelers were safe. (Source: cgisecurity.com ) The FAA has been using commercial software and Internet Protocol-based technologies in order to modernize ATC systems, moving away from the proprietary software the systems were ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Mule63' writes: " Dear Dennis, I would like to know how to get rid of Tracking Cookies. They seem to be using my email to send inappropriate messages to people and my Internet Service Provider (ISP) has threatened to cut my ... Internet service. Could this cause the computer to go slower? Thank you for any information you can give me. " My response: The short and sweet answer is that tracking cookies probably aren't the issue here. The more likely answer is that your computer is infected with Spyware, is part of a botnet, and is being used to proliferate spam. Allow me to ... (view more)

In computing, a device driver or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a hardware device. How it Works A driver typically communicates with the device through the computer bus or ... communications subsystem to which the hardware is connected. When a calling program invokes a routine in the driver, the driver issues commands to the device. Once the device sends data back to the driver, the driver may invoke routines in the original calling program. Drivers are hardware-dependent and operating-system-specific. They usually provide the ... (view more)

In computing, an executable file causes a computer to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions, as opposed to a file that only contains data. Files that contain instructions for an interpreter or virtual machine may be considered ... executables, but are more specifically called scripts or bytecode. Executables are also called "binaries" in contrast to the program's source code. Binary Files A binary file is a computer file which may contain any type of data, encoded in binary form for computer storage and processing purposes. For example, a computer document file that contains ... (view more)

McAfee has launched a new website designed to help the victims of various cybercrimes fight back against Internet deviants. Dubbed the " Cybercrime Response Unit," it acts a lot like an "Online 911". A victim of an online hacking is left with very ... little options following an attack. On one hand, the thought of calling the police to report a random computer virus is comical, but if the virus is comprehensive enough that it affects a great number of people, the party responsible for its creation should be held accountable. In the U.S., online crimes can be prosecuted by ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader R. Thomas writes: " Dear Dennis, I forgot my user password (with administrator access rights). I tried booting into safe mode, hoping that it would login me in as the 'Admin' user, but I forgot the admin user password, too! How ... can I get past this? " My response: There are a number of ways to get past this. In fact, you can use a hidden Administrator account in Windows XP to reset your main user password. In this article, I'll explain how you can login as the administrator in Windows XP using Safe Mode. If that doesn't work, I've linked to another article ... (view more)

An interesting little piece of hardware promises to eliminate wasted upload time when sharing computer files, while reducing stresses associated with forgetfulness. The Pogoplug is a simple device that remotely accesses and shares files on a home ... computer over the Internet. Users connect the Pogoplug to their home network router (via an Ethernet cable), plug in a USB hard drive into Pogoplug, and the device pretty much does the rest. Leave Your Flash Drive and Worry at Home Since the files from your home hard drive are accessible via the Internet, forgetful people never again have to worry ... (view more)

Well, you made it through another April Fool's without being convinced your mother-in-law was moving in, your wife left with the mailman, or the Pittsburgh Pirates were Vegas' pick for the 2009 World Series. However, there were some pretty nifty ... jokes played this year, and we'll go over a few of them here. Some are simply ridiculous. For instance, it's unlikely Toshiba will fool anyone with its Petbook K9, which it calls the world's very first notebook for canines (and I don't doubt it). The tech giant's tag line for its goofy new device? "Playing fetch is so last year." It sure sounds like a ... (view more)