James Stabile Info Blog Newsletter

July 2005

Technology and Business...

The biggest security breach in the protection of people's private, personal financial information has occurred. Master Card has announced that millions of consumers' credit card numbers, expiration dates and names of banks have been stolen by computer hackers. Hackers managed to release a virus into the computers of CardSystems Solutions, Inc. The personal information was harvested by the computer hacker when customers' credit cards were being scanned for transactional approval by CardSystems before the company sent the transactional information to the appropriate credit card banks. Master card was the first credit card company to announce the violation, but there were others including VISA, Discover Card and American Express.

Now it has been discovered that CardSystems was at fault in this theft. CardSystems violated the law by holding thousands of consumers' credit card information when the consumer transactions were denied or not able to be completed. The company held the information for research purposes. This is a strict violation of the policies set up by CardSystems and the various credit card companies involved - Master Card, Visa, American Express, Discover Card, etc. Hence, the perpetrators were able to secure the information from current transactions as well as from transactions that never "went through" because of a problem in completing the transaction. Millions of people's credit card information is at risk.

This is just one more story to add to the many others involving security of our financial information. One thing is for sure, do not overreact. Even if 40 million card holders' information has been stolen, it doesn't mean that each of those 40 million people will be victimized. Don't overreact, but react. React with confidence and reliability. Check your financial records including your credit report regularly. Don't wait until your financial statement arrives in your snail mailbox or your e-mail client's mailbox. Be proactive, check your financial records for accuracy regularly. This practice will become standard practice in this the 21st century.

You must be proactive in the security of your financial information, but so does the credit card companies, banks and other institutions involved with your credit information. These financial organizations and businesses must be vigilant and even overzealous in the protection of consumers financial records. They must follow the rules and policies that govern such transactions. In short, they must follow the law. 

You and I must be vigilant in out security defenses. We must be proactive and hold these companies responsible for maintaining their responsibilities in such matters.  

Be careful on the phone. A story in the Sun-Sentinel, 6.10.05, a person got a call saying that it was an  AT&T service technician. The caller said that he had to inspect the phone line. He wanted the person who answered the phone to push 9-0-# and then hang up so the caller could perform his service check. The home owner was suspicious and hung up the phone and called AT&T. AT&T said that they would never call and make a request. Doing what the caller had asked would permit the caller to gain full access over the owner's telephone line., which would enable them to make long distance calls and bill them to the owners telephone number. A scam. Remember the phone can be as treacherous for scams as the Internet. No reputable company or business would call a person and ask for such assistance. Never give out any private, secure or sensitive information over the phone to a caller requesting that information. Always hang up and call the appropriate business or company and report the abuse attempt. 

Let's move on to more pleasant topics in business and technology. Life goes on. Young people, old people,  a lot of people are looking for jobs. The economy is not at its best right now. Jobs are not at there best right now. If you have a good paying job, good benefits and good working conditions, then you probably aren't aware of the job situation in the United States. You are probably doing A. O.K., but there are many of your fellow citizens who are not doing O.K. Many Americans of all ages are looking for a job - a way to make a living, a way to pay the bills. 

Finding a good job is not just a matter of luck. It is a matter of preparation and action. For adult job seekers I offer the following guidelines in finding a job. You, who have a good job, may not be aware of this, but there are many adults, older workers who are in need of employment. No, they are not losers. In many cases they have done nothing wrong. Simply put, they lost their jobs, for a variety of reasons. By the way, this can happen to any one of us. So, if you have a job you still may want to read on because, it could happen to you, any one if us and it wouldn't necessarily be our faults.

If you are an adult looking for a job: 

• It's not your fault. These things happen. Be proactive in your search to secure employment.

• Start your employment search immediately. This is not the time to take a vacation. O.K. take a day or two off, then get to work. Looking for a job is a full time job, it may take several months to find a new job.

• Set your priorities. Determine your employment goals. Once you have set your goals go after that job.

• Know yourself. Review your strengths and weaknesses. Rewrite your resume. Revitalize your interview skills. Get into that job search mode. Write a resume that describes what you have to offer an employer. I mentioned a resume before, however, this is the time to upgrade that resume. What can you do for a prospective employer? What makes you different from the other candidates for the job? 

• Perfect your interviewing skills. Note your appearance and attitude. Dress appropriately for the type of job that your are applying. Don't over dress, don't under dress. Gather all the information that you will need for an interview for a particular job Practice for the interview. A day or two after the interview, follow up with a note or telephone call. Show that you are interested and willing to be an active, dedicated employee.

• Research and redefine your expectations. Use all the resources available to find employment. Of course use the newspapers, but also make use of the Internet, friends, friends of friends, employment advertisements of all types. A word of caution: don't waste money on nonessential employment schemes. If you have the the money, then go to employment agencies, but this is not always necessary. Another word of caution, you can find that job with resources available to people on a budget. Remember big fees do not ensure a good job.

• Look for potential employers. Look everywhere for potential employers. Use technology in your search. Be careful, don't spend your money, what little you have left, on bogus job related searches. In other words, you do the work, don't pay someone to do it for you.

• Upgrade your search. Apply to every job that you are qualified. This is not the time to be thinking about your office decor, it's the time to secure an office. Apply to a potential firm or employer, but also send a letter of inquiry to the hiring managers - the person doing the actual hiring. Use referrals from other employees, classmates, friends, alumni offices. Apply to companies not advertising for employment. They may have an opening that has not been advertised, yet. Get your name and intentions out.

If you are a student looking for a job:

• Get good grades. Believe me good grades do reflect job success. Employers are interested in your school grades, every single grade for every single course (high school and college). In these days, you must cover all of your bases. 

• Participate in extracurricular activities. A well rounded student makes for a well rounded employee. Active people are usually more successful than inactive people.

• Participate in community activities. An involved student is an involved employee.

• Be aggressive. Most employers do not advertise for high school employees. Be more assertive. Even if you are applying to McDonalds, you will be competing with older people who need a job. They may need that job even more than you.  

• Know how to complete applications. Take courses in high school that teach you how to complete applications. Ask your guidance counselor for assistance, ask your parents or other family members. Find that essential information, use the library and the Internet. Be careful about copy write rules and proper use of the Internet.

• Be ready for interviews, even on the spot interviews. If you are a high school student looking for a part time job, your interviews will probably be a little more spontaneous than the interviews of adults looking for full time jobs. Access your strengths and weaknesses. Really get to know yourself. What kind of jobs are you interested? You want a job for the experience and the money, visit each fast food business in your neighborhood and personally apply for a job. Be prepared for anything at any time, dress appropriately.

• Practice talking about yourself. Stand in front of a mirror and tell that person in the mirror all about you. Practice your interview with another person or in front of a mirror.

• Learn something about the company. Do your homework. Read about or gather information about the place that you want to work. A potential employer would be highly impressed if a young applicant was familiar with his or her operation.

• Follow up. Write thank you notes or telephone the perspective employer. If you are applying at a fast food restaurant or store stop by regularly and say hello to the "boss" or " manager". Make your presence known, but remember sometime adults feel that kids should be seen and not heard.

• Be a good employee. I know that you are going to get that job. 

What is virtual memory?

There are two types of memory associated with computers -physical random-access memory and virtual memory. The physical memory (RAM) is provided by those green and black memory chips plugged into the motherboard of the computer. It allows one to store information on the hard drive of the computer. You may have 64 MB, 128 MB, 516 MB, 1GB, etc. of RAM installed on your computer. Sometimes when your computer is running many programs at one time, it may run out of RAM. That's where the virtual memory comes in to play.

Virtual memory is not actually a actual chip on the motherboard, but an amount of disk space on the hard drive that can be used to share some of the load when the physical memory is full. This virtual memory storage area is called the page file or swap file. The virtual memory automatically shifts data not currently in use into the virtual memory page file as you work. Sometimes you may get a message on your computer saying that your virtual memory is too low to complete the task you are doing. Sometimes increasing the size of the virtual memory will solve the problem. Sometimes the page file is corrupt or in other situations there may not be any more space on your hard drive to accommodate all the tasks that you are performing. You may want to refer to support.microsoft.com and enter Article No. 308417 in the Search the Knowledge Base box for more information about Windows performance options.

To gain more memory, if you feel daring and if you have plenty of room on your hard drive, you may want to increase the virtual memory yourself in your Windows XP based system. One caution, Windows XP by default regulates the virtual memory automatically. You may want to leave it that way. However, follow the following steps to see what I'm talking about. 

First lets check how much free space you have on your hard drive.  Click, once or twice, (unless otherwise stated, click means left click) on the "My Computer" icon on the desktop to open "My Computer". Find your hard drive file, it may be labeled local disk "C", maybe not. Anyway, it usually is labeled "C". Highlight it by left clicking one time on it and a frame will open up to the left showing the free space of "C".  Another way to access it is to right click "C" go down to "Properties" and click on "Properties". Under the general tab, the information that you are searching for will be available. Once you have determined that you do in fact have free space on your boot hard drive, follow the directions below.

Here are the following steps to increase the size of the virtual memory page file in Windows XP: 

• Right click "My Computer", left click "Properties", then left click "Advanced" tab.

• Under "Performance" left click "Settings"

• Left click "Advanced" tab

• Under "Virtual memory" left click "Change"

• Under "Paging file size for selected drive" - Has "System managed size" been selected? If so, your computer regulates the page file automatically. If you would like to change the virtual memory, select "Custom size" and enter the "Initial size" and "Maximum size". The initial size should be equivalent to 1.5 times the amount of physical memory and the maximum size should be equivalent to three times the size of the minimum or initial size. For example, if you have 256 MB of RA, select 384 for the initial value and 1,152 for the maximum. (If you have the space on your computer, you can always up the maximum size to more than 3 times the minimum.) Then left click "Set". Close the menu by clicking "OK". Then left "Apply" on the "Advanced" tab, then "OK" and "OK". A popup will come up asking you if you would like to restart your computer now, left click "Yes" and your computer will restart. 

To determine the amount of RAM, physical memory, installed on your computer, right click, "My Computer", right click "Properties", the RAM will be displayed. An amount a little less than the total amount that is installed on your computer will be displayed. Example, 512 MB of RAM is installed on your computer, maybe 480 MB of RAM will be displayed. RAM is always  64 MB, 128 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB, etc. 

One important thought: When going through the above procedures, if you feel that you have made a mistake or if you are "just looking", not intending to make any changes to the settings, always click "Cancel" instead of "OK" or "Apply". "Cancel" keeps the settings unaltered.

Before you follow any directives for changing any settings on your computer, you should do your homework, i.e. investigate your options. Microsoft help is always a place to go. You can trust the authentic Microsoft web site. You could do searches on the web, but you never know the reliability of the web page that comes up. Everything on the Internet is not official, valid or reliable. Be careful.