You probbaly know that I’ve worked with computer’s all my life. What you might not remember is that the first computer my parents bought for me many years ago was the venerable Commodore 64. With it’s 64 bytes of RAM we played games like Choplifter, Tooth Invaders, Clowns & Bruce Lee. I also wrote my first computer programs in BASIC. And should I even mention the Datasette? Gee, loading computer software onto audio cassettes seemed like such a good idea at the time!

It’s amazing how 25 years later, all of those hours sitting with my mom and trying to fix the syntax errors in the tapes my Uncle Ott would send her actually seem like fond memories when at the time we wanted to throw the machine out the window.

Yes, the Commodore 64 is 25 years old now. I still have mine packed away. I could never get rid of it. CNN has a great article about the historic anniversary of everyone’s favorite home computer. Read CNN’s article here.

Back when I first starting using computers in third grade it was on an Apple IIc. There were two keys on each side of the space bar. One was the open apple key and one was the closed apple key. The closed apple key long ago went the way of 5.25 inch floppy drives and monochrome monitors. The open apple key has however, lived on for a few more decades on the command key.

Then on Tuesday Steve Jobs unveiled the newest Apple keyboards. The little cloverleaf symbol is still on the command key, but the open apple was replaced with the word “command.” It’s the end of an era. It’s kind of sad.

Derik DeLong of MacUser thinks otherwise.

I’ve long talked about the Michael’s Guide section of my site. It includes some instructions and tips on how to help you fix your own computer including an extensive section on viruses and spyware.

While I still believe that a lot of systems can be cleaned by end users, I’ve recently come upon a few systems that were so badly infected that there is no way that the average user could fix them short of reformatting the hard disk (which would result in data loss.)

If you feel you are in this situation, please contact me and I’d be glad to quote you a price on fixing your system. I’ll remove any spyware and viruses, install software to prevent future infections, update Windows with all current patches and updates and more. My prices are reasonable because I consider this a service to the computing community as a whole since infected computers on the internet hurt everyone.

I just updated Michael’s Guide to Choosing Passwords with a new service from Steve Gibson’s (of the Security Now podcast) site.

The following is an excerpt from Michael’s Guide to Choosing Passwords…
A good place to go for a totally random password is GRC’s Password Generator (www.grc.com/pass). This website generates a totally secure, unique and random password everytime you refresh the page. It will generate a 63 character password. If you need a shorter one, just grab as many characters as you need.

Take a look at this new keyboard. It’s a prototype called the Optimus. It uses OLED screens on each key to make it infinately customizable. You can make the keyboard display specific keys for any application.

Check it out at Gizmodo.

Never let it be said that I don’t give fair time to those who have differing opinions. In this C|Net article shows that at least one security expert at Microsoft thinks that writing down your passwords is a good thing because people know how to keep written documents secret. It’s an interesting theory, but I still stand by my opinion that you should not write down passwords.

You can read my opinion on the matter in Michael’s Guide to Choosing Passwords.

While the blog part of my site was down, Michael’s Guide was growing. I’ve created 2 new guides.

Michael’s Guide to Wireless Security will help you learn how to better secure your wireless networks. It’s amazing how many people just plug in their router and never set up any security.

Michael’s Guide to Choosing Passwords is a short guide on how to pick better passwords. Your passwords is are the keys to your life. Don’t leave doors unlocked because you chose a weak password.

Check them out today in Michael’s Guides

The NSA (National Security Agency, the government’s top secret decryption and code breaking agency) has released guidelines on how to secure your computer. They have versions for most major operating systems.

It’s pretty thorough and worth a read if you’re worried about computer security (and you should be!).

Take a look at it on the NSA’s site.

Most of you probbaly already know what a problem spyware is, but here’s an article that attempts to quantify the magnitude of the problem. remember that I’ve posted some info to help you avoid it and remove it in Michael’s Guide.