Occupation and has cpap helped or hurt your career?

Wulfman wrote:Do whatever you like, but I don't run anti-virus softwar or firewalls on my computers and have NEVER (knock on wood) had an infection. I'm just VERY careful!!!

And superstitious (LOL). That's okay, I am. too.

Then how on do you keep yourself protected without a firewall or antivirus software? I do that, run Adaware, Spybot S&D, Spyblaster, Ewido Security Suite, EZ Clean, my Symantec, not to mention deleting my Temp. Internet Files and browser cache at least once a week. Are you saying I don't need all this?

In the meantime, I have put my MSQQL server on pause. Would that be considered safe to do or does it need to be turned off? I know it goes on automatically when I start my OS, but the icon is in the lower right and I have control to turn it off or pause it. I have never turned it off before. If I do, can I also restart it from there or would I have to restart the computer? New to this MSSQL thingamajig.

Thanks, Den.

After 45+ years in technology (electronics then computer systems field engineering and maintenance) I am "retired". Yeah, right. Now working part time in a hardware store. Harder work than I ever did before but it can be fun dealing with customer questions and needs.

Clif

Lori,

Bear with me on this as it's been since the middle of May since I installed Encore Pro......(and I'm not at my home computer,either.) There are (I believe) two programs that are in your (Programs) "Startup" that pertain to the SQL operation. What I did is to Right-click on each and drag it to my "Desktop" (screen) and tell it to "Move" it there (when you let up on the mouse button). One starts the SQL server and the other one starts the "manager" (I can't remember the exact name right now but it's the one with the icon on the task bar ....I think it's "Service Manager"?). They need to be started in that order before starting the cardreader software and then the Encore Pro. When I shut them down, I do it in reverse order. The SQL server then goes away when I reboot.
Contrary to what's been mentioned in some of these threads, I have all of my printer and file sharing turned off, too. Mine works with it turned off. There are two places for that....one in the "Folder Options" and one in the "My Network Places". I turn them both off (un-check them).

I DO have Ad-Aware (Lavasoft) on my computer and run it periodically (but it doesn't find anything).

I'm glad to hear that you do the things you do and clean out the browser files periodically.....they build up in a hurry. Makes the computer run faster, too. You didn't mention this, but it's a good idea to run a "Disk Defragmenter" (in the Program\Accessories\System Tools) periodically, too. Then the hard drive doesn't have to search all over the place to find what it needs.

If your computer periodically gets infected, then you NEED the software you mentioned. I don't want to stick my neck out here and say that those programs are not needed.....it all depends on a person's browsing habits. I just happen to frequent very boring places that don't have little "nastys" waiting to hitch a ride. THIS SITE IS DEFINITELY NOT IN THE "BORING" CATEGORY! (but doesn't seem to be very risky for "bugs"......the kind that crawl in your computer.....not in your mask.)

Does that answer your questions?

Den

Wulfman wrote:You didn't mention this, but it's a good idea to run a "Disk Defragmenter" (in the Program\Accessories\System Tools) periodically, too. Then the hard drive doesn't have to search all over the place to find what it needs.

Den,

I am a long time user of Disk Defragmenter, although when I analyze, most of the time, I don't need to defrag. The way I describe it is, your hard drive is a messy closet before defragmenting. If you need to find something, it takes a long time since for years you've been putting the jacket to the suit back without the slacks and the summer stuff is now mixed in with the winter stuff, the files being the clothing and the hard drive being the closet. Defragmenting is like cleaning out/organizing your closet and putting those jackets back with the matching slacks and putting all the seasonal clothes together, etc. Then when you go to find something to wear in particular (those being the files you try to access by using a program or finding a particular file), it's quick and easy (on both counts).

Although I don't do anything with computers professionally except use my software as part of my job, I still fix and troubleshoot mine, my family's and my friends' computer problems. I love to. I set our family's home wireless network up. I've also installed hard drives and floppy/disk drives, reformatted OS's.reinstalled fresh copies of Windows, and a whole host of other things. I believe the less afraid you are to try to fix your computer, the more you can accomplish. It's just like everything else in life that takes a little getting used to and you learn as you go.

Thanks for the info.

Lori,

Good analogy. I got the impression your were pretty computer savvy.
We'll have to discuss "court reporting" some day. I came close to marrying a court reporter about 20 years ago, so I'm a little familiar with what the technology was then and has evolved to (to some degree).



cvansant,

"hardware store"???? You mean TOY store, don't you?
I find it hard (if not impossible) to walk out of a hardware/toy store empty-handed.

Best wishes,

Den

Wulfman wrote: We'll have to discuss "court reporting" some day. I came close to marrying a court reporter about 20 years ago, so I'm a little familiar with what the technology was then and has evolved to (to some degree).

Den,

You would be amazed at how far Court Reporting has come in the 25 years that I've been in it. We used to have to take our jobs on a manual machine and then read the notes into a dictaphone, have them transcribed by a typist and then get it back, proofread it and then have the corrections made and THEN personally deliver it it to the office.

Now we have computerized writers that have disks in them. We take our job, put the disk into our computers at home that have VERY expensive dedicated software that helps us transcribe the job, no printing necessary. Just proof it on the screen and make an ASCII and email it in. Saves time, money on supplies and the stress of having incompetent typists who don't listen to your punctuation commands, etc. It has given the reporter total autonomy as to how the job gets done and how fast you can turn it around. Love technology...I may be old, but I try to stay on top of what is new out there as it is amazing what they come up with each year.

So why didn't you marry the reporter? We're pretty nice people as a group, you know .

WOW I leave work early for a dentist appointment and everybody is talking to me

Disclaimer - I do not run Encore Pro and computer configs widely vary depending on their care and feeding so your mileage may vary

( If someone wants to send me an APAP and the software I will be happy to test things LOL WINK )


In General If you are running "Microsoft SQL Desktop Server (MSDE) running with properly patched XP SP2, the firewall installed" I see no reason to stop the sql server when you are not using Encore. There are other programs that may be installed that could also install MSDE. If it makes you feel better than go ahead and stop the server using the manager Icon down by the clock. There are a few SQL friendly worms living on the internet so the two most important things to consider is if you are running MSDE are –
1.) FIREWALL! if you aren’t using a software based firewall drop a few bucks at your favorite electronics store on a Linksys or Netgear, SMC etc router/firewall devices.

2.) This may go over the less technical peoples head.. NEVER use a blank SA password. Make sure the SA password is not easily guessed.

GEEK ALERT FROM HERE DOWN

The main reason I advocate the firewall is that there are worms that are actively scanning the internet for machines “listening” for SQL traffic. Once they find one they start trying to guess the SA password so they can spread to your machine and use it to scan for more machines. With either a software or hardware firewall you are protected from this. Even if your SA password is hard to guess the unsuccessful attacks will slow your system down.
Here is a real example of what a computer with a secure SA password looks like when connected to the internet with no firewall. This is the output of the system command
Netstat –an This commands shows all of the active network connections, and what you see is “my” computer on the left 206.40.xxx.xxx Listening on port 1433 (MSSQL) and a computer in Asia -211.192.244.152 connected to “me” about 70 times. Through these connections that Asian computer is trying to guess my SA password. Not only does it eat up nbandwidth but it slows “my” computer down processing the login attempts.

TCP 206.40.XXX.XXX:1433 211.192.244.152:5015 TIME_WAIT
TCP 206.40.XXX.XXX:1433 211.192.244.152:5021 TIME_WAIT
TCP 206.40.XXX.XXX:1433 211.192.244.152:5046 TIME_WAIT
TCP 206.40.XXX.XXX:1433 211.192.244.152:5065 TIME_WAIT
<Snipped another 60 or so connections>
TCP 206.40.XXX.XXX:1433 211.192.244.152:5698 TIME_WAIT

Geez, Grab, I thought I was computer savvy until that last one. SA? Are you talking about on the router, the password? I have a firewall on Windows XP and Symantec. Is that enough? Oh, never mind. The last thing you need is to be bothered at this time of night about computer safety. Thanks.

The SA password is the SQL Administrator's password - older versions of SQL would install SQL with the default password blank - and anyone connected to your computer can then really mess with your SQL.

Derek would know what happens to Encore Pro when you change the SA password. (I don't have it either...)

O.

Thanks, O. Now I need to find out how to change the default password as I never gave one to the server. Don't like to be vulnerable IN ANY SITUATION.

Sleepless on LI wrote:...I may be old, ...

If you are old, then I am too. And I refuse to think of myself that way! (So should you.)

50 is the new 30, and we're not there yet!