How not to save money on gas

Gas Money

Gas Money

I have had a few conversations with friends and family over the years about how to save at the pump, and surely you have heard some of the suggestions too, such as, not using your air conditioner because it will save you a gazillion dollars in gas, and that a waxed vehicle slips through the air and gets better gas mileage.

Recently, I set out to see see if the first one was true, and you can find the results in an earlier blog post of mine entitled, “Is gas mileage affected by your air conditioner?”. Since posting that, I have continued to monitor my mileage very closely and will post an update as I collect more data.

My newest pet peeve is with those who use apps such as “Gas Buddy” on their Android or iPhone smartphone, or use any of the websites that offer the same type of information.

What IS Gas Buddy? It is a connected app that you load on your mobile device, and as you drive along, you can see the cost of gas at nearby stations.  How is that data collected? Much of it is entered by individuals who use the app, so it is usually fresh and up to date.

The idea behind these apps is that if you are in need of fuel for your car, you open the app up and instantly can view the stations near you and their price for gas, and head to one and save a penny, two, or in some cases as much as 10-12 cents PER GALLON.  That’s awesome!

What I take issue with is are those who use the app to find the absolute cheapest price, say 10 cents a gallon cheaper than elsewhere, then brag about how much money they saved. But what they failed to mention to you is that they lost money in the process of saving money.

Let’s think about it for a second.   Assume that your car takes somewhere around 15 gallons of fuel to fill it up, and that you save 10 cents a gallon, that’s $1.50 savings if you opted to drive to the el’cheapo station. Sounds like a great deal.  But is it?

Possibly not.   In many cases, a person drives a few miles out of their way to get that fuel.  For the sake of argument, say five miles. That’s ten miles round trip, and in the case of my vehicle, that’s half a gallon of fuel, at over $3.00 per gallon. Meaning, they just blew their “savings”. Not to mention the wear and tear on the vehicle, and something that may be even more costly – the time to drive there! If you make minimum wage, and you drive 10 extra miles, which could take 15 minutes or more, then you just blew $1.81 worth of your time.

Also consider that fuel may be cheaper for a reason. The quality of it could be less than the higher priced alternatives. Even though it is likely still 87 Octane, it may have additives in it such as ethanol that affect your gas mileage.  My car gets the best mileage when I use non-ethanol fuel, but that comes at a cost, so I opt for the cheap stuff.

What brought this subject up was the fact that a recent conversation revealed a friend drove his truck 8 miles ONE WAY to get fuel, and he saved THREE CENTS per gallon.  His truck takes 25 gallons generally, so he saved 75  cents, and drove 16 miles.  His truck gets about the same as my car, 20 miles per gallon.   Sooooo, his trip cost him 20 minutes of time and at least $2.25, probably more out of his pocket. When I pointed this out to him, his response was, “But it was cheaper”.

People do that with computers too. One of our clients purchased a new notebook from a major store, and though they said they got a good deal (It was actually the same price as we sell it), they spent over an hour at the store. They bill out their work at over 200 dollars per hour. So in my opinion, they spent an unneeded 200 dollars.  To make the story worse, after they got the computer, it had issues and they spent another hour dealing with it, because you can’t just take it in and drop it off, you have all kinds of hoops to jump through at the big places, and this time of year, the lines for customer service start getting longer.

Next time you head off to “save some money”, take a minute and think about how much you are spending in order to save.  Ten minutes of my time is worth more than saving a dollar. Time is one commodity I don’t have enough of!

 

Our Black Friday Trend Micro anti-virus giveaway winners are…

Everyone signed up to this blog was automatically entered in our little giveaway.

We have so few subscribers that your odds of being selected were extraordinarily high! In fact, I actually was selected once, so in the essence of fairness, I ran the random number generator until someone not associated with Homeland Secure IT was selected.

Normally, our rules are that you have to be able to walk in our door and pick the item up in person, but we bent them this time…

Here are the people who get the Trend Micro Internet Security anti-virus packages:

Marta Holt – Springdale, Arkansas
Rick Bivans – Greenville, South Carolina
Amy Holiday – Greenville, South Carolina
Craig Rhodes – Spartanburg, South Carolina
Andrea Bennett – Greenville, South Carolina

Winners – please come by and pick up your prize…  Except Marta from Arkansas, I’ll need your mailing address…

Don’t pout though if you were not selected… We’re going to offer Trend Micro Anti-Virus at a discount to anyone who mentions this “giveaway” until our stock is depleted.   Hurry up and get it before you have to pay the retail price!

BTW: If you happen to be a Mac owner – Trend Internet Security comes with a Mac product too….

Hope your Thanksgiving was relaxing and filled with many things to be thankful for!

Homeland Secure IT is most thankful for you! Thank you for sharing in our lives and supporting our business and thank you for reading this silly blog, hope you get something good out of it from time to time!

 

Homeland Secure IT will be closed Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving!

We’re going to close the doors, turn off the lights and head toward home in a bit, and start our Thanksgiving weekend!

Please note: We will be closed Thursday and Friday and return to normal hours on Monday, November 26th.

If you have an emergency and need help, please email or leave a voice mail message, which goes to all techs and someone will call you back ASAP!

May you have a blessed Thanksgiving, we sincerely hope you get to spend it with family and loved ones!  Safe travels to those of you who are leaving the Greenville / Upstate SC area!

Trend Micro Internet Security anti-virus giveaway and Black Friday special

Homeland Secure IT wants you to be protected… So much so that we are giving away *FIVE* free 1 year Trend Micro Internet Security packages to random people subscribed to this blog.  We’ll do it on Friday, November 23rd. This product retails at $49.95….

To be eligible, you must be able to pick up the product at our office here in Greenville, SC during normal operating hours.

If you are not selected, that’s okay, we’re going to offer our stock of Trend Micro Internet Security for sale at only 14.95.   Since we are not actually open on Friday, we will extend this deal from Monday the 26th, until Friday the 30th of 2012!

We are partners with Trend Micro and can provide you or your company with a single seat, or a thousand. Small and Medium businesses may be interested in the Trend Micro Worry-Free line of products, which can protect all the computers on your network, whether in the office or in the field, and monitor the updates from a central location.  The anti-spam and mail protection for Microsoft Exchange Servers is outstanding.

Not only do we offer sales of Trend Micro, but we also perform installation, support and maintenance!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lenovo IdeaPad S400 14″ notebook – Super slim, lightweight, affordable!

Lenovo IdeaPad S400

Lenovo IdeaPad S400

Here’s a lovely little laptop for you to consider…

The Lenovo IdeaPad S400 14″ LED Notebook with Intel Core i3 dual core processor, 500GB HD and 4 GB of RAM.

Webcam, USB 3.0, HDMI output, Microsoft Windows 8 and 1 year Lenovo warranty.

There’s not much else to say!  Thin, lightweight, and brisk performance…  Rated at 5 hours battery life.

We’ve got it for $529.99, so if you want one, give us a call at 864-990-4748 or use our contact form!

Homeland Secure IT is a Lenovo Partner and we offer sales to individuals and businesses in the Greenville, Anderson and Spartanburg SC area as well as support, for the entire line of Lenovo desktop, notebook and server products! We can migrate all your data to your new S400 and if you have never used Windows 8 before, we can teach you the basics!

 

From the WatchGuard Security Center: Don’t be a target – Anticipate and Monitor for APT Activity

Every once in a while I will find a blog post that is just wish everyone knew about… Here’s one that was posted on the WatchGuard Security Center site, stolen  borrowed in its entirety.

You can find the original post at this link HERE….

Our security predictions for 2012 forecasted that the class of targeted attacks known at APTs – advanced persistent threats – would trickle down, and begin to affect smaller organizations.

And while it might not make the headlines like the recent story about the data breach at Coca-Cola in 2009 that is still affecting the company three years later, a successful attack can be devastating regardless of the size of the organization or the motive for the attack.

Historically, APT attacks have been created by sophisticated hackers using advanced attack techniques and blended threat malware, but it is only a matter of time before “normal” malware criminals learn from these sophisticated hacks and the evolution of the APT speeds up, making organizations of every size a target.

So let’s revisit this prediction and figure out how to make your organization the smallest target possible with the tools you already have at your disposal.

What’s in an Acronym: APT?

  • Advanced – APTs use the most advanced malware and attack techniques available. By the nature of the name, they often leverage techniques such as encrypted communication channels, kernel-level rootkits, and sophisticated evasion capabilities to get past a network’s defenses. More importantly, they often leverage zero-day vulnerabilities – flaws which software vendors haven’t yet discovered or fixed – to gain access to our systems. In short, APTs are Q-level, James Bond malware.
  • Persistent – This malware is designed to stick around. It carefully hides its communications, using techniques like stenography. It “lives” in a victim’s network for as long as possible, often cleaning up after itself (deleting logs, using strong encryption, and only reporting back to its controller in small, obfuscated bursts of communication).
  • Threat– APTs are extremely blended threats, much like botnets, and very targeted. APT attackers are groups of highly skilled, motivated, and financially-backed attackers with very specific targets and goals in mind. Typically, the often nation-state sponsored attackers have targeted Fortune 500 companies, government-related infrastructure, or the industrial sector – and we anticipate this broadening to organizations of all sizes.

No network security provider can block every APT attack, no matter what they claim. According to Gartner, an estimated $60 billion is invested by corporations and governments in network security systems, yet hackers are still finding ways to sneak past them. By definition, APTs often leverage new techniques, which may not even have a defense yet. However, there are defense strategies that can significantly mitigate the chance of an advanced and persistent infection. WatchGuard supports a variety of reporting and monitoring functions that provide smart and strategic defense against these blended threats.

We’ve outlined a variety of best practices for mitigating risk and monitoring unusual activity across a network that may better detect or stop the next APT, including:

  • Multiple layers of security controls – WatchGuard “defense-in-depth”

A multi-layered approach to network security is the best protection. When combined together, firewalls, intrusion prevention services, proactive anti-virus (AV) solutions, anti-spam and anti-phishing protection, and cloud-based reputation defenses maximize the chance that one or more security controls will catch part of an APT attack.

  • Signature-less malware protection – WatchGuard Proactive Malware Detection

Similar to zero-day attacks, APTs often use malware that has not already been found by AV protection and therefore no signature exists. The only way to catch this kind of APT is to use proactive, non-signature techniques. WatchGuard partners with best-in-class anti-malware and anti-virus service providers such as Kaspersky and AVG Technologies, which both have the capability to detect malware without signatures. Our partners specialize in code emulation, behavior analysis, and sandboxing to determine what a file does and if it may be malware. These techniques can often catch malicious files without actually having reactive signatures for them.

  • An evolving defense framework – WatchGuard XTM (eXtensible Threat Management)

APTs are just further proof that hackers and attacks on the Internet are constantly evolving, so naturally, the only way to really protect against evolving threats is to have a defensive platform that can change along with them. WatchGuard’s strategic XTM hardware and platform design lend to a modular framework that is easily adaptable to adding new security layers to WatchGuard appliances – as new technologies are released, we can better protect against APTs as we integrate them into the platform. This allows WatchGuard to incorporate new defense technologies, such as cloud reputation and the use of heuristics to detect malware, much more quickly than other network security providers.

  • Better manageability through visibility – WatchGuard Firebox System Manager (FSM) and HostWatch

Often, security practitioners focus on prevention and forget about discovery and response. Tools that help quickly identify anomalies or problems in a network and real-time visibility tools such as HostWatch and FSM help find malware through unique monitors, network traffic reports and administrator access to approved or denied external sites. Some network security companies require the purchase of additional reporting tools or appliances in order to have this important insight into a network. WatchGuard believes that customers should not have to pay for the proof (reporting) that indicates a system is providing internal network protection. Visibility tools like FSM and HostWatch are key for APT defense and these WatchGuard tools come free with the WatchGuard XTM appliance.

  • Enforcing Standards – Protocol Anomaly Detection (PAD)

For the most common and important Internet services, such as Web traffic (HTTP), e-mail traffic (SMTP), domain name traffic (DNS), and file transfers (FTP), WatchGuard deploys proxies, or deep application-layer content inspection services. Among other things, these proxy services include our Protocol Anomaly Detection (PAD) feature, which can tell the difference between bad and good traffic by enforcing RFC (request for comment) standards for that particular service. For instance, if the SMTP RFC states that the maximum line length for an email is 1000 bytes; our proxies enforce that standard, and by extension protect you from any attacks (like buffer overflows) that try to leverage overly-long email lines… and that’s just one example. These are “signature-less” protections that can even block zero-day attacks, if they break protocol standards.

  • Reputation Services – WatchGuard Reputation Enabled Defense (RED)

WatchGuard RED is a cloud-based reputation authority that aggregates many sources of security intelligence to provide our appliances with a dynamic, real-time view of the internet threat landscape. It proactively monitors and stores the IPs and URLs of known sources of malware, drive-by download sites, and phishing and spam email. It gets its intelligence from aggregating many known lists of malware distributors and mixing that with real-time feedback from the thousands of appliances we have protecting customers’ sites. This real-time feedback gives RED a very accurate and dynamic view of the quickly changing threat landscape

Because APTs are continually evolving and getting more elusive by the day, no network security solution will be able to anticipate or block every attack. Our advice: Always assume that a network is already breached and then build a security vault using the tools and services noted here. We strongly suggest the utilization of more than just preventative tools – strong visibility tools will help recognize threats and ensure that IT administrators are talking all necessary action to help mitigate them. — Corey Nachreiner, CISSP (@SecAdept)

For those of you not already in the know…. WatchGuard is a leading manufacturer of network security Firewall appliances. While a home user can use their products, and we have sold a number of them for home and small home office use, you mostly find them in small, medium and enterprise businesses. We are happy to sell and support WatchGuard firewalls in Greenville, Spartanburg and Anderson (The Upstate) as an authorized partner. Our prices are reasonable and our service is unparalleled, so please, consider a quality WatchGuard product to protect your business network, and consider Homeland Secure IT as your dealer!

Call 864-990-4748 or use the contact link for more information!

Nexlink 2000UP Ultrabook Holiday Special – Get one (or a dozen) for your business!

Finally, something to be thankful for… A lightweight powerhouse notebook that will not break the bank!

This 4lb Ultrabook features:

  • Intel i3-3217U processor
  • 14 inch LED display
  • 4 GB DDR RAM
  • 30GB mSATA drive for cache
  • 320GB 7200RPM 16MB SATA3 HD
  • Intel WiFI Link 6230 802.11/a/b/g/n & Bluetooth
  • Ports: 2 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, HDMI, Audio, RJ45
  • Web cam, 4-in-1 card reader
  • 1 year depot warranty
  • Genuine Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 x64
  • 13.5 x .7 x 9.25 – 4lbs with battery
At only $869.oo, it competes nicely with other manufacturer offerings, and this machine can be customized to fit your needs, so if you have a particular application and would like a custom build, please contact us!
Options include i5 processor, 8GB RAM, SSD or larger hard drives and Microsoft Windows 8.

We are your Nexlink dealer in Upstate / Greenville, SC with years of satisfied clients – Call us at 864-990-4748 to order one today or inquire about quantity discounts!

Secure IT Alert: Multiple updates for Microsoft and Adobe products for November 2012

Microsoft “patch day” for November is upon us like the cool autumn nights….

It looks like the Microsoft has a total of six bulletins with four of those being CRITICAL. In all, 19 vulnerabilities will be corrected and they will affect the .NET Framework, Internet Explorer and Office, in addition to Windows itself.

But wait, that’s not all! You also get important updates from Adobe for their Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Air and all versions of Adobe Reader….   These updates affect multiple platforms, so Apple Mac users need to apply them too!

The Adobe patches are likely more critical than Microsoft. The Flash Player is a “0 day” and corrects seven vulnerabilities that affect every platform.

If you need any assistance installing these patches, or would like to discuss a patch management system for your Greenville, Spartanburg or Anderson based business, please call us at 864-990-4748

1

Is gas mileage affected by your air conditioner?

A while back, I was involved in a conversation where a person was convinced that the air conditioner in their car affected their gas mileage.

They were so certain of this that they only run the AC when they absolutely have to. (Which for me is most of the time).

So, first a little info….  The AC compressor in most cars is powered by a drive belt (V-Belt, serpentine and sometimes, even a cogged style belt). The belt may power only the AC compressor, or it could be turning the power steering pump, alternator or other devices. Regardless of whether the AC is turned ON, the belt is still in motion. It runs most frequently from the main shaft of the car, and also may have an idler pulley that it contacts.

Let me say this again – Regardless of whether the AC is turned on, the belt is moving the AC compressor’s pulley. When you turn the AC on, a charge is sent to a clutch, the clutch engages, and that pulley that is already being turned transfers power to the AC compressor.

However, the contrary to what most people believe, the compress doesn’t only run when your air conditioner is on. The compressor is engaged when you turn on your defroster, and sometimes it is automatically turned on or cycled by the car’s computer, just to keep it lubricated. Other cars do not have an “AC button”, and instead have a temperature control that automatically cycles between the AC and the heater, to maintain a consistent temperature in the vehicle.

With all that out of the way, I set out to determine if there was indeed a difference in fuel economy when NOT using the AC.

I started with a baseline measurement….  Several months of closely watching my gas mileage, and then picked a month that I could bear to not run the AC to perform my test.

While I was at it, I figured I would give it every possible chance to save gas, by completely changing my driving habits.

The car is a 2004 Mazda 6 wagon, with a V6. It has slight modifications to it, including a high performance computer mod, which gives it a considerable amount of additional power on demand over stock.

Here’s the gas mileage from 2012-7-17 until 2012-10-18:

2012-07-27   20.1 MPG
2012-08-08   21.3 MPG
2012-08-22   22.0 MPG
2012-08-30   20.7 MPG
2012-09-14   20.4 MPG
2012-09-27  21.1 MPG
2012-10-08   21.0 MPG
2012-10-18   20.6 MPG

Pretty consistent actually…   My routes are similar each day, and the blends and octane of the fuel I use have remained pretty constant.

That’s an average of 20.9 MPG over those 8 tanks of fuel.

Now, my experiment…   Again, the goal was to maximize fuel economy.

The conditions:

  • Do not use the AC, under any circumstances, not for defroster, not for cooling…  If it happened to come on automatically as a result of the car’s management system, fine, but don’t manually activate it
  • Do not let the car idle – shut it down if sitting for more than a minute (because idling cars consume fuel, right?)
  • Coast down hills, do not accelerate suddenly, etc (Hyper-milers do these things all the time)
  • Wash the car, insure tires are at recommended pressure
  • Drive UNDER THE SPEED LIMIT….    Yep, this was a difficult one. At no time did I exceed the speed limit. I paid careful attention to the posted limit, and drove under. Sometimes as much as 5 MPH

Okay, so this is a total change in my driving habits. I always keep it cool in the car, 68 degrees or colder. The AC is always running.  And I am not saying I have a lead foot, but, I don’t normally drive under the speed limit.

The result:

21.4 MPG, which is right in line with the average MPG I had been getting.

So next, I wanted to go back to my evil ways and run that air conditioner, not wash the car, drive it like I stole it (Okay, I drove it a little bit more aggressively than I NORMALLY drive), let it idle every chance I got…

What kind of gas mileage did I get when driving it that way?

20.0 MPG on the nose….

So in conclusion, I am convinced that at least in MY car, the mileage is pretty darn locked in, thanks partially to the poor aerodynamics of a wagon, and mostly to the fact that modern vehicles have very efficient air conditioner compressors, they consume very little horsepower/torque when they are engaged.

While there was a slight increase in fuel efficiency with the AC off, it is hardly enough to worry with.  A whole 6 or so miles extra per tank, but driving slow and being miserable doing it is just not worth it to me. Though, I could take the dollar and some changed saved and use that for better antiperspirant, because it is just too darn hot here in the South to go without AC!

The driving habits seem to have very limited affect too.  I even suspect my car gets BETTER gas mileage at 60mph average than it does at 55.

I will keep further track of this and might make a follow-up at some point.

What are your experiences?

 

 

Not to beat a dead horse, but even MORE social security numbers likely exposed in SC DOR hacking

The news only gets worse…   This morning, officials in the South Carolina Department of Revenue data breech investigation are saying that the number of tax payer social security numbers that were reaped in the hacking event is much higher than initially thought.

They have expanded it to an additional 200,000 SSNs, taking the grand total up to an estimated 3.8 million individual and 657 thousand businesses.

How much higher will those numbers get? Time will tell.

There’s an article here that explains in greater detail and tells how to get credit monitoring for free – I highly recommend it.