Study shows Home Computers are not protected enough!

A study commissioned in July of 2008 by Steganos, a provider or privacy software, has found that many home computers are woefully unprotected and the users are unaware of the privacy and security software and settings on their computers.

The Study found the following:

• 13% of respondents had no Anti-Virus Software installed.
• 9% did not know if Anti-Virus Software was installed.
• 19% had no Firewall installed.
• 60% had no privacy software installed
• 25% did not knowi if privacy software was installed.

That would equate to at least 85% of home computers are not adequately equipped to handle viral threats.

Bruce Powers of http://www.thepowerszone.com/ said “I am not surprised at these findings, I am constantly noticing similar results with our clients. Most users are not aware of the real dangers out there until it’s too late!”

Bruce is a 20 year veteran in the IT industry and has recently started thepowerszone.com in an effort to educate the home user about these threats. “Many of my corporate clients don’t worry about viral threats since IT departments handle these in the background with high-end systems. Since the users don’t see it, then they don’t understand the real threats - and that is where we have dropped the ball!”

Bruce has moved to a Web 2.0 model in an effort to educate the user about these threats with video and audio solutions as well as podcasts.

He currently has a video available to anyone that signs up for his monthly newsletter. It is very informative, even to an IT veteran like myself.

I recommend that you check it out.

-Mike McDowell

What....It's only been a year?

....I had the best of intentions...!

Yeah, it's been a year since my last post....so what. You're not reading my blog anyway.

I am changing the mode of my blog from a poker blog (I will still discuss it from time to time) to a medicinal utensil to vent my issues.

Turning 40 'happened', but it wasn't that hard at all. I was diagnosed with diabetes a couple of months ago so I am dealing that.

I am still dealing with wierd emotions stemming from my family. My mother's excentricities have really begun to invade my family's harmony and we are close to having the 'talk' with her to straighten the situation out. My relationship with my brother is basically over. This is after years of toleration of his selfishness.

I have always just dealt with the crap from my mom and brother. And it wasn't until it creeped into my life with my wife and kids that I realized that I couldn't just sit back and let their selfishness impede my family. Most people will say things like, he's sour - or - he's just overreacting. Maybe so, but I have endured 35 years of this and when other people hear about some of the things that I dealt with they are curious to know why I didn't breakdown and fix this sooner. Distance has helped - both physically and emotionally, but it hasn't resolved any of the real problems.

As of last year, I have stopped contact with my brother except for holidays. I have no interest in having any contact with him at all. But that is another post.

I will post another blog with the chronology of crap created by my mother and brother.

As for now....Peace!