Easy to forget

I am finding it easy to forget where I am, too easy.
Recently, I have started working at my Alma Mater - the University of Alabama. Campus sits in the middle of most everything, so much it blends into the backdrop. Being on campus is not strange, though I graduated in 1992, because my wife has been attending classes until last August.

Now, I have an office in a newer annex of one of the older buildings on campus, one where I attended classes when I was in school. My window views a nearby building over an alley, so no students enter my awareness during a normal day, and though I take the stairs, instead of taking the elevator, and sometime see a few students in the hall, they easily slip from my mind as soon as I reenter the "office space" and leave the "institutional yellow block walled hall."

I am finding it way too easy to forget that I am sitting on campus, surrounded by students, classes, instructors and professors. I need to take my wife's advice and get out for a walk during lunch. The exercise and fresh air would be good and it would remind me where I am and for whom I am doing this job.

Note to self: Bring sneakers to the office.

Loading my Bookshelf

I started at the University of Alabama, as Information Security Analyst, last Thursday. I was thinking about it that night and came to the realization that, though I have had cabinets that locked and offices without doors, this was the first time I have had both an office with a door that locks and locking desk drawers - AND I have shelf space for books.

For several years, my wife, as she progressed through her Bachelors, Masters and PhD degrees, amassed more and more books into her reference library, utilizing every bookshelf in the house and acquiring new ones. Meanwhile, I have had only a couple of shelves of space on which I could keep books. The result was that I massed gigs of ebooks and PDFs into a digital library too vast for me to easily read. Now, I have the space and opportunity to bring my library out of the corners and into the light.

Here are the book titles I have selected to begin the loading of my office bookshelf:

• Just Enough Project Management
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
• Network Security Hacks
• Wikinomics
• UML for the IT Business Analyst
• Computer Evidence
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Unleashed
• The CISSP Prep Guide
• SANS GSEC Security Essentials Toolkit
• Ubuntu Hacks
• LPI Linux Certification in a nutshell
• sendmail
• sed & awk
• Hacking Linux Exposed
• Linux: Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition
• Introduction to SUSE Linux

Internet Security on the cheap

There are some very good firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-adware programs available for free on the Internet. Most free versions include updates, but any further support would require the person to upgrade to the commercial version.

Free Internet Security suite (firewall/anti-virus/anti-malware):
COMODO Internet Security

Free firewall programs:
Agnitum OUTPOST Firewall Free
ZoneAlarm Free Firewall

Free anti-virus programs:
AVG
Avast Home Edition

Free anti-spyware programs:
Spybot Search and Destroy
SuperAntiSpyware
ZoneAlarm Spy Blocker Toolbar

Free anti-adware program:
Ad-Aware

Free anti-malware programs:
Malwarebytes
AVG LinkScanner
Revo Uninstaller Freeware

Surf Smart Tip

Don’t get popped by the pop-ups!
While browsing the internet, you may come across a pop-up window or ad that claims that your computer is infected with viruses, Trojans, etc., and offers to scan your system for free.

In most cases, these are scams trying to get their own malware, Trojan, or virus implanted into your system.

Close the “warning” and scan your own system with the software you installed or one from our list.

Surf Smart!