It’s in your airports, your coffee shops and your libraries: “Free Public WiFi.”

Despite its enticing name, the network, available in thousands of locations across the United States, does not actually provide access to the Internet. But like a virus, it has spread — and may even be lurking on your computer right now.

While not necessarily an immediate danger, it’s another message about being current with your operating system and applications for security purposes. The other consideration is providing for your users wifi needs when traveling. One option is the proliferation of choices available to cable subscribers as described in this article – Comcast Cuts The Wire. Locally AT&T offers this type of package for U-Verse or DSL/Wireless customers. This type of proactive effort will help limit the type of behavior leading to the scenario described in the NPR report.

As with all Microsoft software, there are some requirements: Operating System: Genuine Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3); Windows Vista (Gold, Service Pack 1, or Service Pack 2); Windows 7

From the Microsoft Partner website that alerted me to this new model, the question of what to use for larger firms is addressed with the following:

Question: “If you are making this change to allow small businesses to utilize Microsoft Security Essentials on up to 10 PCs, what do you recommend companies with more than 10 PCs use?” Answer: If you operate a small business with more than 10 PCs, we recommend that you consider using the Forefront line products to address your security needs.

I don’t have experience with Forefront, many of my clients are already using other commercial options.

I was surprised at the time that he was using Blogger to support his efforts, although there can be valid reasons for doing so. The best reason – it’s easy to get started and until you start, you won’t benefit. There are downsides to that approach however, and it seems Dave and his bosses have discovered them.

“Transitioning” seems to be the thing to do right now, and we at the KY3 Political Notebook are doing it as well. We are in the midst of moving the Notebook to our new home on our TV Internet home of ky3.com. This move is weeks in the making, and I can assure you it is not occurring without questions, modifications, much attention to every detail — and, admittedly, a bit of trepidation.

The move is a bit bittersweet for me. Blogger has been good to us, allowed us to flourish and enhanced our creativity. But we believe that moving the Notebook to ky3.com will be beneficial for both sides. To be frank, my bosses would like to see the hits you grant us on their home site. And I would like to branch our political reporting out to a wider community.

It began when due to an advertisers use of an unpatched version of Adobe. That was in February and patches were promised in March.

Have you ? If not, now is the time to ensure that and are up-to-date and you, and your clients, are protected.

You can also update from within the applications themselves. For Reader, you can find Update under Help. If you are running Reader v8, I don’t recommend moving to Reader v9 until you’ve tested other applications for support of v9. While eWeek points to a couple of option, including (for Firefox) I’ve been happy with for several years now.

Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (961260)
This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Could Allow Remote Code Execution (959239)

This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server. The first vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a specially crafted TNEF message is sent to a Microsoft Exchange Server. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of the affected system with Exchange Server service account privileges. The second vulnerability could allow denial of service if a specially crafted MAPI command is sent to a Microsoft Exchange Server. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could cause the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service and other services that use the EMSMDB32 provider to stop responding.

Extreme Tech :
A few months ago Microsoft started including an “Exploitability Index” value to show how easy it should be to construct a successful attack using the vulnerability they were disclosing. In many cases, a vulnerability may be critical because the consequences of it being exploited are serious, but in fact it is not so easy to exploit.

Monday’s Internet Explorer vulnerabilities were give an Exploitability Index value of 1, which translates to “Consistent exploit code likely.” Microsoft adds the note “Consistent exploit code can be crafted easily.” See the summary and click on Exploitability Index for all this. For some reason, Microsoft does not include these Exploitability Index values in the individual security bulletins, such as the one for Internet Explorer yesterday.

What this means is that you can expect, or at least you should assume, that attack code to exploit this vulnerability will be on the Internet very soon. It will be pushed through all the usual channels, some of which are hard to avoid, such as ad banners.

Control of attention is the ultimate individual power. People who can do that are not prisoners of the stimuli around them. They can choose from the patterns in the world and lengthen their time horizons. This individual power leads to others. It leads to self-control, the ability to formulate strategies in order to resist impulses. If forced to choose, we would all rather our children be poor with self-control than rich without it.

It’s by David Brooks, a NY Times columnist. It’s a critical element to my success and a struggle I face everyday as a small businessman. Especially since a key element of my client work is making sense of the technologies we need to harness, whether its email, Facebook and it’s ilk, or more significant tools such as Customer Resource Management (CRM). My ability to focus on the goals I establish will allow me to do the things I want. Much like the sign I saw at Jimmy John’s

If you do the things you have to do when you have to do them SOMEDAY you will be able to do the things you want to do when you want to do them.

download the departed film high quality

That’s my New Years resolution, and my daily resolution. Hat tip to Jakob Nielsen, who also offers his Top 10 list for addressing information pollution, for individuals and for companies.

It’s a problem that has been around .

When I have a security question, the first place I go to research it is the . A client has been struggling with issues associated with notebook users, and weekly fixes that need to be applied due to exposure to external threats. Their use of Windows Mobile devices has not received the same attention despite their similar ability to expose business secrets.

addresses the risk that small portable devices are leaving our networks open to every day. Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, portable email devices like the Blackberry (RIM) device are gaining in their power and application. Don’t ignore the threat.

One of the more interesting aspects of Springfield I’ve come to admire in the six years I have been here is the level of entrepreneurial activity. It’s both a strength and a weakness however. I’ve experienced it directly in the film making and soccer industry in this region as individuals or groups that might have achieved more together instead end up competing. Ultimately the competition, and the market, deliver the right solution however.

That is what has taken place in St Louis with InBev’s purchase of . I worked at McDonnell-Douglass and Emerson Electric, and looked closely at a position with A-B coming out of the MBA program at Washington University. I also spent a decade selling technology solutions to the top firms in St Louis. Working with hundreds of firms, I’ve seen a wide range of business cultures and models. St Louis went through one major shift with Boeing’s purchase of McD based upon the changing market conditions in place at that time and now they will experience it again.

This article, offering , offers insight on what brought Anheuser-Busch to this point:

Brito eschews the kind of corporate perks that have become typical today. He and other executive board members fly business class only on flights over 6 hours; otherwise they go coach. There are no company cars, free beer or reserved parking spots.

“Whoever gets there first gets the shade,” he said.

Contrast that with Anheuser-Busch, which maintains a fleet of corporate jets, a barber shop and company cars for executives. Every employee gets two free cases of beer a month and free admission to A-B’s theme parks.

It’s the same now. Rather than Congress mandating mileage standards, the global economy will direct GM and Ford to ‘do the right thing’.

Ultimately I am an optimist. I’m old enough to have been through the gas crisis of the 70′s, when I first started driving, being laid off by Emerson Electric in the recession in ’85, and the tech meltdown in 2002. You plan, you prepare, and you enjoy the simple things. Like

Here is my new daydream: I am in Rio de Janeiro, sitting at an open-air cafe near the beach at Ipanema, smoking a Cuban cigar, wearing a Panama hat and drinking a Budweiser, that great Brazilian lager. I am watching the young women walk past to play volleyball on the beach. Because South American women are attracted to older men, several of the young women stop to flirt with me.

“Where are you from?” one asks me. “Rio de Luis,” I reply.

That is as much of the daydream as I care to reveal, but let me just say that the young women are captivated by the notion that there is a Brazilian city in the heart of the United States.