My BlackBerry Storm Review

Well I’ve had my Blackberry Storm for a few weeks now and I have a few tips to make it work better. I said “Better.”

1. Install the Blackberry Update that they released about a week after they started selling the Storm. This makes the phone act more like a Beta version.

2. Under the Options menu, Keyboard/screen set the font size to 10. This increases the size of the menus and other buttons. So if you have big hands/paws like me it’s easier to select the button you really want.

3. Remove the Blackberry Messenger. You need to uninstall it. This is one of the apps that Blackberry always keeps open for you so you have faster access to it. 

4. Close the apps your not using. A real pain, I know.

5. Don’t forget about rebooting the unit every now and then. I mean pull the battery for a good minute.

So even with these changes I still get it to crash and burn. (Just use the camera, video and playback.)

BlackBerry Storm Crashed again, and again.

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Physical Security in MDF,IDF, and Phone rooms

Physical Security in MDF,IDF, and Phone rooms

All the companies that I’ve worked for have had the policy of “Never leave unauthorized people alone in the MDF’s, IDF’s , and the phone room’s. “ That being said, over the past year or so I’ve been talking to Phone Guy’s/Gal’s and such that have come to do work in these “sensitive areas.”

I asked them “How many companies require someone be with them? The answer is about half. That doesn’t seem very good. So then I start asking about the people that hang out with them. It seems that again only about half are computer and/or phone people. It seems odd that you would put a guard on the worker that doesn’t know anything about phones and computers.

Stupidity in strange places

I just took my car in for repair at the dealer for some warranty work. My dealership does a lot of on-line stuff. They even have an open wireless network and workstations to use while waiting for car work to be done. So I received the following E-mail from them:

Customer No. #######
Your vehicle is complete and ready for pick up. Please look over the
attached invoice and call with any questions. If the invoice is correct,
you can reply with a credit card number and expiration date. I will run
the credit card number to help speed up the delivery process.
Thank You for Your Business. Jane Doe ###-###-#### ext ###

The biggest issue is the word “Reply” there is no link in the E-mail to go to a secure payment page. Have you ever looked over a dealership invoice? There is a lot of personal information on it about you and your car.

So I went to the dealership and talked to the manager. I was very happy that he listened to me and sent out some e-mails. The first was to stop using above text on invoices. The second was to ask his internal people if I was correct and what is PCI. Does anyone know if this would break PCI compliance?

Yahoo Spam?

I’ve been wondering why is Yahoo Spam so much worse than Google’s Spam. I mean worse in the quantity of E-mails not their content. So this morning I think I figured it out. It’s all about the cash.

From their site:

Mail Plus
Get personalized spam filtering with SpamGuard Plus, 20MB message size, no graphical ads, POP access and forwarding, and more great features for just $19.99/year – that’s less than $2/month.

I feel better knowing that the it is not the poor choice of spam blocking software that Yahoo choose to implement but rather that they want to earn money.

Updates, Updates, Updates, What about your PDA?

This last week everyone has been running around saying “Patch this, update that!” But what about your PDA? I’ve been having issues with my PDA so I updated the OS and then went and found all the apps I had installed to re-install. (I know I could have backed them up but I wasn’t sure if the problem wasn’t caused but an app. ) I was amazed at home many updates where made to each of apps.

The moral is to remember the little machines need updates too.

P.S My dad updated his router and made his Internet connection slower so careful with what you update.

WarGames 25th Anniversary

Hi,

Wow I feel old. Its been 25 years already. Check this out:

http://fathomevents.com/details.aspx?eventid=724

I’m going to try and make it to:

Severance Stadium 14
3492 MAYFIELD ROAD
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH 44118
2162913942

If your going to go let me know.

Dave

Symantec chat no better but Good phone support!

So after having fun / failure with Sony I chatted with Symantec. The only saving grace was that the lady I talked to on the phone was awesome and friendly. Sadly Norton doesn’t seem to offer this disk anymore. They did offer to clean the machine if I could get it on the net but I couldn’t as you’ll see.

(I didn’t change the phone number. It’s the one I gave him.)

Mr. David has entered room.

Manu has entered room.

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:07:50 EDT 2008)>Welcome to Symantec Support, my name is Manu.

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:08:07 EDT 2008)>Welcome to Symantec Virus & Spyware Solutions.

Is this the first time you are contacting us or do you have a Priority ID?

Mr. David (Fri Jun 27 19:15:06 EDT 2008)>First time

Mr. David (Fri Jun 27 19:15:13 EDT 2008)>no ID sorry

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:08:38 EDT 2008)>May I confirm your email address as  

xxx@xxx.net and direct phone number as  123-123-1234  , am I right?

Mr. David (Fri Jun 27 19:15:32 EDT 2008)>correct.

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:09:01 EDT 2008)>May I know which country you are

connected from and Please provide me your alternate phone number or mobile

number.

Mr. David (Fri Jun 27 19:16:08 EDT 2008)>I don’t have one.

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:09:43 EDT 2008)>May I know which country you are

connected from?

Mr. David (Fri Jun 27 19:16:39 EDT 2008)>USA

Mr. David (Fri Jun 27 19:16:44 EDT 2008)>Cleveland OH

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:10:15 EDT 2008)>May I know if your computer is on network

or it is a stand alone PC?

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:10:18 EDT 2008)>Are you connected from the computer,

which is facing this particular issue?

Mr. David (Fri Jun 27 19:17:15 EDT 2008)>Do you still have the file

that you can download and burn to a CD to boot a computer?

Mr. David (Fri Jun 27 19:17:26 EDT 2008)>Standalone

Mr. David (Fri Jun 27 19:17:37 EDT 2008)>Its not this computer

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:10:59 EDT 2008)>I shall explain that

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:11:06 EDT 2008)>Thank You for all the information. I

would now create a Priority ID for you.

Mr. David (Fri Jun 27 19:18:08 EDT 2008)>The machine restarts the

desktop whenever i try to do anything

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:12:16 EDT 2008)>Thank You for your patience.

Your Priority ID is  nnnnnnnnnn. Please make a note of it for future

reference.

Mr. David(Fri Jun 27 19:19:26 EDT 2008)>Is there a way to build a

current bootable cd from inside norton Corporate ed.

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:12:41 EDT 2008)>As I understand from your issue

description is you want a CD to boot your PC ,Am I correct?

Mr. David(Fri Jun 27 19:19:52 EDT 2008)>Yep, Then I can try to fix it.

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:13:31 EDT 2008)>David , do you suspect virus/spyware

activity in your computer?

Mr. David(Fri Jun 27 19:20:27 EDT 2008)>Yes

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:14:03 EDT 2008)>David , do you suspect virus/spyware

activity in your computer?

Mr. David(Fri Jun 27 19:21:07 EDT 2008)>yes/yes

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:14:51 EDT 2008)>May I know whether you have downloaded

any free software’s, animation’s, free music, movies etc from the
internet recently? Or did you accept any ActiveX controls or video codec’s

when prompted from unreliable websites?

Mr. David(Fri Jun 27 19:22:24 EDT 2008)>I didn’t. A friend asked me to

help him fix the laptop.,

Mr. David(Fri Jun 27 19:23:04 EDT 2008)>Right now the system restarts

explore.exe about ever 10 to 20 second.

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:16:38 EDT 2008)>David ,We will help you resolve all the

virus issues from your system, by transferring you to our virus removal
technicians, who will take Remote Access of your computer , diagnose the

computer completely and resolve theissues for youHowever, for that you will need to connect from the infectedcomputer

Mr. David(Fri Jun 27 19:23:52 EDT 2008)>The machine can’t connect to the internet.

Mr. David(Fri Jun 27 19:24:06 EDT 2008)>That’s why I was looking for the boot cd.

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:17:59 EDT 2008)>David ,In that case, we will not be able

to help you. We can help you only if you are chatting to me from the infected pc
as we will have to take control over that particular pc tinfecting the computer

Mr. David(Fri Jun 27 19:25:31 EDT 2008)>Do you know if you still have

the boot cd on your website?

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:19:14 EDT 2008)>I request you to check that on the website

Manu(Fri Jun 27 16:19:19 EDT 2008)>Is there anything else I can help you with?

Mr. David(Fri Jun 27 19:26:29 EDT 2008)>I did but I couldn’t find it.

That is why I did the chat.

Mr. David(Fri Jun 27 19:26:43 EDT 2008)>Nothing else. Thanks

Once again reading the language is different from knowing it. What they need is a way to build a Virus cleaning CD/DVD.

Sony can read English just not understand it

So I was working on cleaning the virus’s and such of a Sony Vaio laptop. The machine is a real mess. I cann’t even load stuff to clean it and I think it has a sata drive. LiveCd’s cann’t or aren’t mounting the drive. Time to pull the drive and clean it from another machine. There is no easy way to get to the hard drive on this machine. So I did the chat online with Sony. They asked for the model of the machine and a discription of the problem. I stated that I wanted to know how to pull the hard drive out so I could clean off the virus’s. I get connected and here is a copy of the discussion. I left my spelling mistakes in the post for fairness, but still. Support staff need to understand the language they are speaking not just be able to read it.

 

Subject: eSupport Chat Transcript
eSupport Chat TranscriptJenny_ > Hi David. Welcome to Sony Online Support. I’m Jenny. Please allow me a moment to review your concern. david > Hi Jenny_ > Thanks for waiting, David. I’ll be glad to assist you with the information to format the Hard Drive. david > Hi, I don’t want to format it. david > I need to remove it so I can Clean it. Jenny_ > I’m sorry for the confusion, David. david > Ok, So how do i remove the drive? Jenny_ > David, I suggest that you perform the System Recovery using the VAIO Recovery Wizard. Performing the Recovery will erase the data from the Computer and reinstalls all the Original Applications, Original Drivers and the Operating System that is supplied with the Computer. david > But that also looses the data on the drive. david > Are there any doc’s that talk about replacing the drive? Jenny_ > David, to clean the Virus on the Hard Drive you may perform the complete Virus Scan. david > True but the Viruses that are on this machine will not let that happen. In safe mode or normal. david > I need to remove the drive to pull the info of and scan it from another computer. Jenny_ > David, please stay online while I che! ck this information for you. Jenny_ > Thanks for waiting, David. david > so ant info? Jenny_ > David, are you trying to save the Data on the other Computer? david > I will be after I get it out of the computer. That’s why I need to remove the hard drive. david > So how do I remove the hard drive from the! laptop? Jenny_ > I’m sorry; Sony doesn’t recommend to remove the Hard Drive by the end user. david > I wouldn’t consider myself an end-user. david > Also you’ll get to read about this on my blog. david > Thanks for waisting my time again…. david > You can read about it on www.securi-d.com david > I’ll try to post it tomorrow. Jenny_ > I’m sorry; However, you may try contacting the Direct Accessories and Parts Center to obtain the Service Manual to get the instructions to remove the Hard Drive. Jenny_ > Would you like to have the contact information of Direct Accessories and Parts Center? david > no, bye

Yes, they did offer to sell me a manual that might have told me how to remove it but 20-30 minutes to tell me that is wrong. I had hoped they’d do better after that whole rootkit thing they did a little while ago.

 

Movie star teaching in Northeast Ohio!

The famed star of “The PCI ultimatum”, Dwayne Edwards, also of Dwayne’s world of security, is going to be teaching two classes at Corporate College East.

He may not teach us how to stop the robots but, then again it is Dwayne!

Hope to see you there.

Security Breaches – Executive Session – Cost $99

http://www.corporatecollege.com/Registration/CourseDetails.aspx?IG_ID=3&CAMP_ID=0&CAMP_NAME=(All%20Campus%20Locations)&PROG_ID=430&CMAS_ID=4119

 

Foundations of Information Security – Cost $595

http://www.corporatecollege.com/CourseDetails.aspx?IG_ID=3&CAMP_ID=0&CAMP_NAME=(All%20Campus%20Locations)&PROG_ID=446&CMAS_ID=4118

If passwords are like underwear, Shutdowns are like flushing.

The other day I noticed the machine above. It’s in the middle of shutting down. It had been sitting there for a few hours. Out of curiosity I started to see what I could do. I wasn’t able to start jobs/programs because I was in the middle of a shutdown. I was able to view folders and pictures. That gave me some of the inspiration needed to create the following poster. (Links to the PDF in the downloads section above.)