Jabra SPEAK 510 bluetooth wireless conferencing system

Jabra SPEAK 510 bluetooth conferencing systemEvery once in a while, something comes along that can make your life easier, while being affordable. The Jabra SPEAK 510 series bluetooth wireless conferencing system is exactly that.

Not so long ago, a business would have a conference take place in an actual conference room. However, these days, people might crowd around a computer in an office, or a speakerphone in the break room, and some might even be using Skype on an iPad on a business retreat. Usually with poor audio quality on both ends.

Jabra has taken notice and created the new SPEAK 510 and 510+ conferencing systems for use in just about any scenario!

These are portable devices that can wander up to 300 feet away and turn any room into a conference room!

You can use it wirelessly with ANY bluetooth phone, tablet or PC, or optionally tether it.

Using one could not be more simple thanks to very easy to understand controls.

If a Jabra conferencing system could be of use to your business, please contact us as we are your Greenville and Upstate SC Jabra dealer!  864-990-4748 for more information.

 

Eaton Power Products Partner

Eaton Power Products

Eaton Power Products

As an Eaton partner, Homeland Secure IT offers Greenville and the Upstate of SC the full line of Eaton power protection products, from surge protectors to full UPS or Uninterruptable Power Supplies to keep your computers, servers, network and phone systems online even when the power is off.

Safely shut down during a power outage and never lose the document you are working on by using an UPS.

There is an Eaton product that is right for every installation senario you may have. From home, home office, to small business and even data centers.

For more information or a sales quote, please call us at 864.990.4748 or use our handy CONTACT form!

Loading Windows 8 on a Lenovo ThinkServer TS130 is possible but not supported

We are an authorized Lenovo partner and offer their desktop, laptop and server solutions to clients on a regular basis, however, a couple weeks ago, we made an error in judgement.

We have a client who required a robust server for hosting multiple websites, so we recommended FreeBSD operating system (with php, MySQL, Apache, etc) and found an appropriate server for the application, a Lenovo ThinkServer TS130 with an Intel i3 processor, 4 GB RAM and a 1TB RAID mirror.  A perfect combination!

No… Not at all. It was hours of hell. The OS loaded great but would not boot.  Error 1962 – Operating System Not Found.  Lenovo tech support was quick to point out that the server was certified for Windows Server 2003 and newer only, and that there was support for some newer *nix distributions, namely SUSE and Red Hat Enterprise.

They did suggest flashing the BIOS, which was no help at all, but it did give us some new options for “legacy” support, “Secure Boot”, etc.   But still, no ability to boot FreeBSD.  It seemed the only options were to boot off a bootable flash drive, then access the OS on the array, or to use some alternative boot loader. Not a way I would want to go on a production server for our paying clients.

So, that being said, I made the determination to use another machine for their FreeBSD install, which was up and running in a few hours.

Now, what to do with the TS130 ThinkServer? I offered it to clients on Facebook, but nobody jumped on it, so I deiced I would use it for a new desktop.  Bumped the RAM up to 16GB, and tried to load Windows 8… No joy.  Again with the  UEFI / Legacy / Secure Boot BIOS issues.

So what did we do to get it working as a Windows 8 machine?  Loaded Windows 7 with SECURE BOOT disabled.  Once it was up and running, upgraded to Windows 8, which took only minutes.

It probably will not be long before Lenovo releases a BIOS update that will correct these issues, but in the mean time, if you find yourself with one of these TS130 machines and you can’t load the OS of choice, consider a boot loader, running it under a Windows HyperV or VMWare virtual machine, or optionally, go with Windows 8.   It’s a pretty hefty desktop machine for only a few dollars.

 

Unpatched critical Java vulnerability in latest patched version of Java?

Sun Microsystems JavaNo, this is not a repeat from the other day, or last month, or well, ever.

The Department of Homeland Security’s suggestion to disable Java in your browser, whether you are using a Mac, Linux box or Windows PC is still probably the best route for you to take, but I know you won’t.

Here’s the details….  As I warned our customers – the patched version of Java 7 is *still* vulnerable to exploitation.

To make it even more interesting, the exploit is available for the “bad guys” to purchase and use for a mere $5k.

You can read that story over here: $5000 will buy you access to another, new critical Java vulnerability

Again, to anyone reading this…  If you can get along without it, you might consider the advice to disable the Java plugin. If you need assistance with that, please let us know.  Optionally, if you feel your computer may have been exploited, seek professional technical support. We are happy to discuss the matter with you here in the Greenville SC area.  Give us a call at 864-990-4748.

Be safe out there…

 

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Homeland Security advises disabling or uninstalling Java – With good reason…

Sun Microsystems Java

This week, the Department of Homeland Security suggested disabling or uninstalling Java based on a CERT publication where they announced Java 7 fails to restrict access to privileged code. That original posting has been updated as recently as today, January 12, 2013.

What does it all mean?

Well, in a nutshell, if you have the vulnerable version of Java on your Mac, Windows or Linux PC and happen upon a nasty bit of code designed to exploit the Java “zero day” vulnerability, your machine can be completely taken over.

Right now, the web forums are abuzz with tales of Apple Mac jackings, Linux anommolies and Windows x malware.  The numbers of postings have ramped up considerably over the last couple days, leading me to believe this is a valid concern.

We recommend that no matter which platform you are on, that use use extreme caution while browsing and consider disabling Java on your browsers as well.

Here’s what CERT has to say: (taken from the article linked above)

Solution

We are currently unaware of a practical solution to this problem. Please consider the following workarounds:
Disable Java in web browsers

Starting with Java 7 Update 10, it is possible to disable Java content in web browsers through the Java control panel applet. Please see the Java documentation for more details.
Note: Due to what appears to potentially be a bug in the Java installer, the Java Control Panel applet may be missing on some Windows systems. In such cases, the Java Control Panel applet may be launched by finding and executingjavacpl.exe manually. This file is likely to be found in C:\Program Files\Java\jre7\bin or C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin.
Also note that we have encountered situations where Java will crash if it has been disabled in the web browser as described above and then subsequently re-enabled. Reinstalling Java appears to correct this situation.
System administrators wishing to deploy Java 7 Update 10 or later with the “Enable Java content in the browser” feature disabled can invoke the Java installer with the WEB_JAVA=0 command-line option. More details are available in the Java documentation.

 

If for any reason you believe your machine may have already been exploited, contact an service professional immediately.

If we can assist you with this, please let us know. We provide computer service and repair in the Greenville, Spartanburg and Anderson Upstate area.

You can call us at 864-990-4748 M-F, 8:30 – 5:30.

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Commodore Amiga, C64 computers make a return…. Sort of…

Commodore Amiga!

No, this isn’t a Mac mini….  It’s an Amiga….  And for only $2495, you can buy one.

And starting at $1295, you can get the C64X Supreme!

No, I didn’t leave out a decimal point.

Here’s the whole story: http://gizmodo.com/5895462/

 

 

Conspiracy theory – Anti-Virus companies are the ones releasing viruses

I bet at some point, you thought to yourself, “The same companies that provide anti-virus programs are also the people who write viruses.”

The logic behind that is, if Symantec releases viruses, then people need anti-virus software, right?

If I had a quarter for every time I had heard that, I would easily have enough for a steak dinner!

I don’t believe that to be true, any more than the companies that sell police radar guns, also sell radar detectors.  No wait, that was true, but I digress. As much as a conspiracy theorist as I am, I don’t believe that it is in the best interest of an anti-malware company to release malicious software. There’s enough people out there doing that for free already that the likes of a Trend Micro would not need to risk everything on that kind of activity.

However, with that being said, an interesting tidbit in the news is that John McAfee, the guy who McAfee anti-virus security is named after, has apparently admitted that he intentionally infected notebook computers which were provided to law enforcement and government officials. John McAfee has nothing to do with the current McAfee company, but these admissions sure have caused blogs and web forums world-wide to light up with “I told you so!” type comments.

Read the whole story over on nakedsecurity.

One thing is for sure – if anyone gives me a free notebook computer, I’m going to immediately wipe it and reload the operating system!

 

 

 

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DNS Services Managed DNS Backup Business Services bill

We’ve heard from many of our clients that a company called DNS Services (www.DNSsvc.com) has been sending them letters that appear to be invoices. Some clients have attached copies of the bills that they have received even.

However, Pamela’s other business, McAbee’s Custom Carpets received their own the other day.

The “bill” looks like you own $65.00 for “DNS Failover for 5 A Records”, etc. At the bottom of the letter it has a section that reads, “Please detach and return this portion with your payment”.   It states that it is due “Upon Receipt” and lists an account number and Amount of $65.00.

It goes on to say, “Make checks payable to: DNS Services, Inc”.

However, it does state above the bottom section:

“This is a solicitation for the order of goods or services, or both, and not a bill, invoice, or statement of account due. You are under no obligation to make any payments on account of this offer unless you accept this offer”

If you receive one of these “bills”…  Promptly toss it in the trash.  It is about as useful as “Domain Registry” letters you get telling you to renew your domain (through them).

DNS Services bill invoice scam

Here’s what the bogus / scam letter looks like….  Simply ignore it.

Happy New Year from Homeland Secure IT!

And we’re back!!!!

We’re two days into the new year – what do you think of 2013 so far?

We’re hoping this will be a fantastic year for Homeland and for our friends, family and clients!

If there is anything we can do to assist with your computer or network needs, please do not hesitate to call upon us!

Goodbye 2012 – Hello 2013! Happy New Year from Homeland Secure IT!

Happy New Year 2013

 

Looking back over 2012, I am one to see the good, not so much the bad.  Call me an optimist.

Here’s a few of the wins that Homeland Secure IT and our family saw….

  • Homeland Secure IT celebrated our 3 year anniversary – yea us and thank YOU!
  • New partnerships with vendors were formed
  • New skills were acquired by myself and technicians
  • A couple large deployments were planned and executed successfully
  • A few great clients came on board
  • Pamela and I celebrated our 6th anniversary – We’re newlyweds still!
  • Megan was legally adopted as my daughter
  • Our son’s HS football team finished their season with a number of super wins
  • I formed a new band (Hot As A Pepper) and we’re having a blast
  • We attended and participated in a cool whole-cow roast thing (Bovinova part 2)
  • Our daughter started her second year at Converse College
  • Pamela’s mom had a pacemaker implanted and is rocovering nicely
  • We made new friends
  • We have some new toys
  • We had you in our lives!

I guess 2012 was full of win!   Thank you all for sharing it with us!

 

Here at Homeland, we are going to take off Monday, the 31st and the 1st. If you need us, you can call and leave a message or email and we will get with you quickly!

If you are looking for something to do on New Year’s Eve, come check out my band at The Lighthouse in Seneca from 9:30 to 12:30.   35 dollars a person for a great time!  Check out their facebook page for more information.

Happy New Year to you… May 2013 be filled with goodness!!!!