Internet Security

Internet Security - what an oxymoron! I have a favorite quote about the Internet;

Surfing the Internet used to be like going to a library and looking at books, now it is like walking through a minefield.

Something needs to be done about it. If not there will be a backlash as people are scared away from the Internet just as they were scared away from email by all of the garbage that they received.

Here are some of my proposed solutions;

1. Ban Java. Java gives someone the right to download something unto your computer and run it. I do not know how many times have I had to delete all the java files on a computer in order to get someones computer to work again.

2. Close down ISP's that encourage bad sites. Actually they have done this once and hopefully that will slow the pace of all of this garbage.

3. Demand that Microsoft fix its bugs. Putting a computer running Microsoft software on the Internet is asking for it. Servers are totally out of the question. If you must use Microsoft software then at least get a hardware firewall (That is running Linux)! IPCop is a great solution, I wrote about that years ago on my website. Netgear firewall routers are a nice solution too.

Dell X300 Laptop power problems

As you might know I am a fan of Dell laptop computers. In my experience they hold up the best in the long term. Here is another Dell laptop repair explained. The symptoms were that the laptop would shut off on its own and that it would not charge the battery. After some tinkering it was determined that the problem was in the power jack. So it was disassembled and the motherboard was removed. The power jack is in the back right corner in the picture below.

The power jack has 2 arms that extend back behind the jack. As you can see in the picture below they had become unsoldered from the motherboard. They were re soldered on the top and the bottom side of the motherboard. Then the computer was reassembled and sure enough the battery recharged and the laptop did not shut off on its own anymore.

Africa September 2009

I am attempting to post a blog entry from Accra, Ghana, West Africa. We have good Internet here because a year ago Fred and I upgraded their wireless routers BIOS. Ever since then it has worked great.

From Accra we traveled North to Tamale for the first ever graduation of students from the Video Bible School there. The church was packed to standing room only, there were 500 to 600 people there for the graduation service. It started at 9 AM and ended at 3 PM. Somewhere towards the end I shared for about 5 minutes.When the Bible school started in Tomale we bought a used TV for about $120 for them to use. On this trip I brought a Viewsonic Projector for them to use. The projector can be moved around on a motorcycle when a TV cannot be moved on a motorcycle, well it can be and would be but the long term survive ability of TVs on motorcycles is not good.

This makes about 7 video projectors that I have donated to churches in West Africa. When I started doing this the projectors were available on eBay for around $250 to $300, because they were refurbished. Now it is very hard to find any projector for under $500.