Hackers Now Attack Heads

One of the quick hits from the Symantec Internet Threat Report told me by the Symantec spokesperson was that “hackers are now spending less time attacking holes in your system and more time attacking holes in your judgment.” In other words, they’re trying to trick you rather than trick your computer.

That’s why so many more phishing attacks are hitting your inbox.

More Linux Ammunition

Company executives tend to know one name above all others in technology: Microsoft. Let’s give Microsoft credit for becoming a huge global brand name, whether achieved fairly or not. But using Linux rather than Windows on PC hardware can save companies huge amounts of money, not to mention increase security and decrease support costs.

Check out 10 Ways to Sell Corporate on Linux from TechRepublic.

More Free Software, So Backup

To give equal time to PC Magazine after running PC World’s free software article, let me point now to The Best Free Software on PC World. Many entries are the same, but there are enough differences to make your perusal worthwhile.

One area computer users always underestimate is backup.

Laptop Safety Seminar – 2

We had a full house at our first Laptop Safety Seminar on Wednesday in Indianapolis. Thanks to the law firm of Baker & Daniels for hosting the event, and thanks to the vendors who sent information and door prizes, including Absolute.com and their LoJack for Laptops, Carbonite online backup service, and the Staples Business Advantage program.

Kim Brand, CEO of FileEngine, teamed up with me

Indiana Data Breach Law

Indiana just updated their laws concerning personal information loss by businesses. We’re lucky enough to have one of Baker & Daniels leading attorneys, Kevin Erdman, at our Laptop Safety Seminar to talk about the requirements for companies to report the loss of personal information to the Attorney General.

Most references agree that about half of all data breaches

Laptop Safety Seminar – 1

The first Laptop Safety Seminar will be Wednesday, April 23rd, in Indianapolis. Here’s the Web site and information.

Kim Brand and I spent all day yesterday working out the presentation. Really, I should call the result a script, because we’re approaching this much more like a show than a typical presentation. What do you think

Free Software Roundup from PCWorld

The search for the perfect utility may seem endless at times, but the joy of finding a great little program that does exactly what you need is geek heaven. Thanks again to PCWorld for another roundup, 101 Fantastic Freebies.

I use many of these myself, including AbiWord,

Circuit City Crumbles

Just over a year ago, Circuit City made big news of the wrong kind by laying off 3,400 or so workers for being too good at their jobs. That’s right, they laid off the best employees who were making more money than their coworkers because they received excellent reviews, beat their sales goals, and were compensated by Circuit City management for their outstanding performance. Here’s a good financial analysis article that includes a graph at the end showing Circuit City’s consistent degradation under current management.

Here’s an article on CNET.com doing a good job

ManageFusion Topics

I’ll talk about this more, but let me just hit probably the hottest topic of interest and success for users attending ManageFusion: virtualization. I’ve talked to many users reporting a drop in physical servers from dozens to a handful, all due to server virtualization.

If you only have a handful of servers now, talk to your technology advisor

From ManageFusion 08

I’m here in Las Vegas, specifically the Mirage Hotel, for ManageFusion 08, the spring version. Altiris, now part of Symantec, has a second user conference like this in Orlando in the fall. This is the third one they’ve invited me to, so I guess I must behave myself fairly well.

Last year at this time, Symantec just purchased Altiris