A good benchmark test for graphics card is 3dMark (http://www.futuremark.com/products/). You can download
this to test a graphics card(s). There is a demo version,
and some features will be disabled, but its a good way to
document your video card performance. I generaly recommend
for people that are looking to upgrade their graphics card, and
what to play some game, or do some graphics works and are
wounding if a specific card will be able to do it.


jim.

["how do you know about the hit ratio at the Pentagon?"]

Having 2,700 times in a period of 5 minutes on a home users
computer from multiple IP's (assuming 2,700 seperate IP's hitting
your computer in 5 minutes) is, again, very unlikely (meaning
unusual). I'm not saying this is impossible, but I am siteing from
statistical studies that home users generally dont get that many
attacks compared to commercial, state or fedral sites. Getting
multiple hits from a single IP is very common, and generaly
normal, (some of these are kiddy-scripts).


"how do you know about the hit ratio at the Pentagon?"

First, Its common knowledge.

Second, I've been on the technology scene since 1986. I'm
currently a member of InfraGard and several other goverment
sponsered organizations, as well as IEEE and ACM. I also do
consulting with goverment agencies in computer security. I'm
currently part of a joint team that developes security strategies
for several govermental institutions. So gathering information for
statistical studies is part of my job.

jim

"2,700 times in a period of 5 minutes"

VERY unlikely! The Pentagon doesn’t even get that many hits in a
hour. Those number mention above, go against the statistical
studies of people with home computers even those with
cablemodem, dial-ups, etc.

I just thought it was somewhat funny. Kinda like a "Dear John"
letter.

jim

http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/4520-7297_16-5570819.html

DreamWeaver,

Slow down there! I think you might be jumping to conclusions.
Did you know that these are foreign IP's execpt for one??

There are three IPs from Japan, two from Korea, one
from Austrlia, one from China, one from Brazil and one
from the US (Arizona). Its more likely that these
person/persons are performing an random IP pool scan and
looking for port openings, vulnerabilities, or looking for a relay
server.

abuse.org wont/can't do anything about the off-shore IPs.
I would just block the range of IP's that this companys are
using.

Can you or are you willing to share your firewall logs? What
specific attack was noted in your logs?

Jim

I think you miss understood my post above, but anyway.

First, there *IS* a thing called "end-all" utility that will remove
spyware from a computer. If software can be installed, then it
can be uninstalled. The trick here is identifying what the
software is and what it does. Since spyware writers are
secretive of how they install spyware, its difficult
to see what their code does. Only by using tools like the
formentioned tool (hijackthis), debugging tools, and
a good knowledge of how spyware works can a
user find the repsonable program and remove it. REMEMBER,
if it can be installed, it can be uninstalled.

Inregards to your link, keep in mind that allowing certificates
to be installed on your computer is allowing someone to have
control of your computer. The majority of these certificates
are not safe, they themselves have spyware. Also keep in
mind that web sites that cater to removing spyware, are in
fact installing spyware on your computer. As a professional
software engineer I work with computer security and I can
assure you that when a person downloads certificates that
advertise spyware removal, or some other utility that promises
protection, is not a good idea! Also, keep in mind that
installing this like what you have listed above, WILL slow
down your computer, and might make your computer
"act funny".

Jim

Hello,

Lot of the spayware programs out there can not be
detected or even removed by the software mentioned
above. Keep in mind that using only one (1) spyware
utility may not get do the job. If you have a nasty
spyware that can't be removed by any of the formentioned
utilities above, try this one.

    http://www.snapfiles.com/get/hijackthis.html

This is a "end-all" spyware removal tool.

if you have not heard of this and your feeling "experimental"
BE CAREFUL. This utility is a good one, but if you dont read
the docs, it will mess up your settings. This utility creates a
log that you can examine and find out where and what is
being done with your computer.


Jim

Hello blackeyepeas,

LOL.. What I mean by "Christain Acid Rock" would probably
be best described by the mid-60's and 70's era. Lot of the
hard-rock-bands during this era was pretty heavy,
e.g. "AC/DC". A small number of Christain band cater in this
type of music. Trust me, its very far from the old fashioned
quartet, traditional, country, bluegrass groups of the 1950's
and 1960's. I can't say that I'm fond of the types of band
music that you mentioned, but its much better than the
heavy christain metal bands these days!


Jim

Hello,

NetMeeting will support multi-party connections.
I've used NetMeeting before and thought it was a good and
basic way to confrence. Here is additional information;
 
   http://www.meetingbywire.com/NetMeeting101.htm

Dingotel and SkyPe do VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocal).
Slow connections (dial-uppers) will experiance delayed signals
for several seconds, so if your on a dial-up it will not be
worth the investment. I have not used Dingotel or SkyPe so I
can't provide any experianced insight. Doing P2P conferenceing
is much better than using a relay server, such as yahoo or
MSN (as you pointed out using realy servers are "horrific").
I would be carefull with some of these VoIP software packages
however, you never know what they have hidden in their
software code - adware, malware, etc., but again I have not used any of the forementioned software packages.

I hope this helps.

Jim

Hello,

What your describing is indicative to an under voltage in the
power supply. I would check the temperature of the CPU,
some of these CPUs will shutdown the system when
approaching critical temperature levels. I would also check
the power strip if there is one connected if so, swap it out
for a new one. If the problem persists, change the power
supply. Either way its clearly a power supply issue and not
a software problem.


Jim

Hello,

There are lots of software that can be used in conferencering
over a Intranet/Internet. Ventrilo, and TeamSpeak are used
as meeting places for users. These two free software
packages primarily used by gammers, although they do not
provide video capabilites, they do have good sound quality.
Ventrilo, and TeamSpeak have both server and client side
software.

A free package that is distributed with Windows 2000/XP
is NetMeeting. This software provides both sound and
video capabilites. If you do not have NetMeeting check the
link below for a download,

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/netmeeting/

Jim

Hello,

Can you show us what you have so far? This is not my area
of expertise, but I might be able to help out also. Are you
looking at just HTML or do you want something more, like php,
asp, asp.net? Send me what you want and I can get you
started.

Jim

Hello

"Some of the hard stuff blows my old circuits. " Funny!!
Are you refering to, what I would call, "Christain Acid Rock"?
This type of music not only blows my circuits but it also
fries them too. The bible says to "make a joyful NOISE unto
the lord". (And thank God that He said that too, because I
can't sing!) I thought what blackeyedpeas posted above
was humorous!

Here are a couple I listen to,

  http://www.klove.com/
  http://knwc.nwc.edu/page.php



Jim
 

Hello blackeyepeas,

First, duplicating an entry in the regestry will not harm your
computer. Second, you seem afraid to do direct registry
edits and thats ok. A person need to be very sure of what
they are doing when performing direct registry manipulations.
I've written programs that do registry updates and regestry
key encryptions so I guess I feel confortable doing "raw"
updates to the registry. I've been a software developer
for many years now, so I have a good feel for this sort of
thing.

I would like to stress to you about Trusted site zones, just
keep in mind that it will lower the security standards on your
browser. ok? My point here is jsut to remind you to be careful
on who you add to the Trusted site zone in your browser, but
I'm sure you know this.

Jim