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Computer Viruses We'd Like To See
Viruses.
Worms. Who writes these things, anyway? And what do they get out
of disrupting thousands of businesses and millions of users?
As we
all know, many from bitter personal experience, the typical
virus or WORM is either destructive, deleting or changing files
and making systems un-usable; or at the very least is
mischievous, inconveniencing users of infected systems.
Let's
assume that the conspiracy theorists are wrong, and the chief
culprits are not the makers of anti-virus software,
creating and perpetuating a market for their products. Let's
assume most of these pernicious pieces of programming are
provided by private, very talented hackers. The ability and
intelligence these individuals have demonstrated in
circumventing system security, and penetrating so-called secure
networks, could be harnessed for positive and useful purposes.
Against that background,
then, here are seven computer viruses we'd like to see:
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The 80/20 virus:
based on the theory that we spend 80% of our time on less
important things, and only 20% of our time on the things that
really matter, this virus scans your task list / to-do list and
deletes 80% of the items, leaving you with just 20%. It may not
be the correct 20%, but at least you'll feel like everything you
do today is important.
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Schedule Conflict Alert
Virus: checks all out of office meetings on your calendar,
looks up the address and checks databases for traffic patterns
based on time of meeting. The good news is: if it looks like you
haven't set aside enough travel time, the virus cancels the
meeting for you, and emails the other party accordingly. The bad
news: it schedules an overdue appointment with the dentist
instead.
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Coffee Quality Virus:
this one's my favourite - scans your financial systems to
determine what coffee your company purchases; if it's not of
sufficient quality, it alerts (by email) every vendor of gourmet
coffee in your area to aggressively market their products to
your company.
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Statutory Holiday Virus:
every year, this stealth virus invades the Federal Government's
systems and adds one new statutory holiday to the calendar -
ensuring it always falls on a weekday.
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Tax Rebate Virus: a
derivative of the Statutory Holiday virus, this one calculates
how much money the Government really needs, after eliminating
all wasteful spending, then rebates the resulting savings back
to the taxpayer. (Memo to hacker: please ensure only Blue Link
customers qualify for the rebate.)
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Stanley Cup Virus:
this one is specifically for Toronto Maple Leafs fans. It alters
all on-line news and sports pages to make it look like the Leafs
have won the Stanley Cup. Sadly, no-one - not even in Toronto -
actually believes it.
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Vacation Virus:
checks your calendar to see when you last had a vacation. If you
haven't had one this year, books 2 weeks all inclusive in
Hawaii, and charges it to a credit card in the name of Mr.
Gates.
Are You Vulnerable?
On a more serious note, how
vulnerable are you to attack? How secure is your firewall?
One of the best websites we've
seen for information and resources is Gibson Research
Corporation: http://www.grc.com.
Visit this site, scroll down to the Hot Spots section, select "ShieldsUp!"
and test your system's vulnerability to external attack. It's
free to use, very informative, and can really be an eye-opener.
The site also offers a
plethora of other useful information and quality utilities.
You'll definitely want to bookmark this one.
Vulnerability Assessment by Blue Link
If you would like to arrange
for a vulnerability assessment by a Blue Link consultant, please
contact
info@bluelink.ca.
Blue Link
customers using Small Business Server 2000 - contact us for a
special offer on a vulnerability and general system assessment.
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In this
issue:
Viruses We'd Like To See
Are You Vulnerable
Tips and Tricks
Our Products
Tips and Tricks
Solutions / Excel Tip
Copy and Paste from Solutions to Excel
Users of Blue Link Solutions can analyze their data
in Excel, by creating live links between spreadsheets and their
accounting system data. (If you don't know how to do this, contact
Blue Link for information on data mining training sessions).
As an alternative, here's a "quick 'n' dirty" way
to copy data to Excel from any Solutions screen which displays
information in a datasheet (a detail screen that resembles a
spreadsheet, such as sales order detail section, or the aging tab on
the customer screen). Here's how:
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click on the grey rectangle at the left hand side
of the first item you want to copy
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holding the (left) mouse button, drag down until
all the lines you want to copy are highlighted
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press Ctrl+C to copy to the clipboard
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switch to Excel
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press Ctrl+V to copy the details into your
spreadhseet
That's all there is to it!
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Our Products
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Our flagship
product, Blue Link Solutions, is a completely integrated business
and accounting package with functionality unmatched in its price
range.
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Affordable yet powerful Human
Resources management software for small and medium sized
businesses.
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Industry-Specific Add-ons |
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The comprehensive functionality of Blue Link Solutions is
further extended by the availability of add-on components, mostly
industry-specific.
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Other products include:
- ProQuote
- Business Alerts
- Asset register
- Track 'n' Bill
- Web.Venture
- Expense Tracker
- Point of Sale
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For a complete listing of all of our products
and for more information about them, click here.
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156 Corstate Avenue, Suite #3, Concord, Ont., Canada,
L4K 4X2 Tel:(905) 660-0599 ( in the Toronto area)
Toll free: 1-877-BLU-LINK
(1-877-258-5465)
www.bluelink.ca
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