Need a hand with online shopping?

     I just wanted to take a minute to share a really cool tool that I use when shopping online. It's a Firefox extension called "Invisible Hand".  If you are not familiar with Firefox, I highly recommend that you use it instead of Internet Explorer.

      Invisible Hand will check several other websites and alert you if the item is available somewhere for a cheaper price. This comes in very handy when doing your online Christmas shopping. You can download Firefox here and Invisible Hand here.

If you have any questions email me at thecommongeek@gmx.com

Brought to you by Dennis Keefe, The Common Geek

Firesheep-installation

     Well, I installed Firesheep in just a matter of a few minutes.  I learned that you must have WinPcap installed before it will work.  Also, you must have the latest Firefox update or it will not install.  Once installed you open a side panel and click "Start Capture" and you will begin to capture Facebook, GMail and many other sites belonging to the people who are logged onto the same open network.  This is really simple and scary at the same time.  Just by sitting at a coffee shop or anywhere that has an open wifi connection, a person can obtain dozens of accounts and info.  Someone can change all of your FB photos, read all of your messages and post updates as if they were you!

      There is a simple fix that must be done by the owner of the network hotspot.  By simply enabling the WEP encryption and just giving all of the patrons the password, Firesheep will be rendered useless.  If your personal home network is open, do yourself a huge favor and at the very least, enable WEP, but preferably WPA2 encryption.  If you have any questions about setting up your router to ensure that you are protected, email me at thecommongeek@gmx.com


Brought to you by Dennis Keefe, The Common Geek

Firesheep- WiFi Havoc

     I am finally back from my two trips to Boston, MA.  I am trying to put together a post about a Firefox extension called "Firesheep" which allows anybody to access peoples Facebook accounts, email accounts etc. while they are browsing the web on an open wifi network, such as Starbucks.

      I will be installing Firesheep later today and heading down to Starbucks to try this out.  I will not be accessing peoples accounts, but I do want to see this software in action.  I will be writing a follow-up post this evening to let you know how it goes. 

Got a question? email me at thecommongeek@gmx.com 

Brought to you by Dennis Keefe, The Common Geek

Road Trip

     At the moment I am in Lowell, MA to attend my grandmothers funeral.  I will get back on the blog when I return home in a few days.  I have some new ideas for the blog to make it better, so please continue to follow. If you have an idea for a topic, or any questions that you would like for me to research, please email them to thecommongeek@gmx.com

Brought to you by Dennis Keefe, The Common Geek

Shifting Gears

     Well, after 5 days in Vegas, I had to make an unexpected trip to Boston to visit a sick family member.  While driving 3000 miles round trip with my wife and 5 children I had some quiet time to do some brain storming. (If you can believe that I had quiet time with 5 kids in the car).

     I want to blog more openly, instead of just focusing on a specific topic, which I will still do also.  I want to draw more interaction from my readers and maybe even include some Q&A posts.  I love to help people learn more about computers and technology. Please feel free to ask me questions by emailing me at thecommongeek@gmx.com this will help the both of us, as you will get your questions answered and I will gather some content for Q&A which can help others who are afraid to ask questions, or are new to the internet and email.

     I look forward to your questions and would love to hear any feedback that you may have.

 Got a question? email me at thecommongeek@gmx.com

Brought to you by Dennis Keefe, The Common Geek

Back from Vegas!

      Well, I just got back from Las Vegas where my wife attended a publishers conference.  I was fortunate enough to be able to catch the Blog World expo while I was there.  I really enjoyed seeing all of the creative new media and software that has just been released, or soon to come.

     Some of the great new things that I saw were www.cotweet.com which allows you to manage multiple Twitter accounts, and also allows you to schedule tweets.  It offers both a Standard and Enterprise product and the standard version is free!

     Next, there was www.swagg.com which is an online/virtual gift card program, it looks really cool! There was a ton of great new stuff to be seen there. As I work my way through all of the flyers and pamphlets, I will share these new products here on my blog.

 Got a question? email me at thecommongeek@gmx.com

Brought to you by Dennis Keefe, The Common Geek

Las Vegas!

     Just arrived in Vegas today for the Macaroni Kid 2010 Meetup.  So far tonight I have met some really awesome people and some very intelligent geeks. I am planning on checking out #Blogworld tomorrow and hopeful getting a chance to meet @garyvee.  I will add photos and more info after Blogworld.
     I have been up since 3:00am and I am completely exhausted!

Got a question? email me at thecommongeek@gmx.com

Brought to you by Dennis Keefe, The Common Geek

The importance of backups!

     Once again, I am approached by a customer who has a computer which has crashed.  But the real problem is that she has thousands of photos from the past 4 years, but has never backed them up anywhere.  If she had a nice off-site backup, then I would simply reformat or swap the hard drive if it is determined to be bad.  But now, it is extremely important that these files are recovered.

     There are several backup solutions available, I personally recommend Carbonite because it is extremely easy to use and you get unlimited backup space.  I am also a reseller for Carbonite, so if you would like some more info, contact me at thecommongeek@gmx.com  Trust me, you will never realize how import all of your files are until you can no longer access them, so backup your files!

Got a question? email me at thecommongeek@gmx.com  

Brought to you by Dennis Keefe, The Common Geek