Started my exams today

Posted by: Sean | Posted on: May 11th, 2010 | 2 Comments

One exam down now and just three more to go. My exam today was on Computer Security which covers securing networks and cryptography which is creating encrypted messages to send to other people, anyone that sees these encrypted messages cannot understand them unless it is decrypted in a certain way. I was unsure on how this exam was going to go today, up until yesterday I had not done a lot of revision for it so yesterday was a major cramming day for me. This is why I did not manage to get a blog post up last night, I am trying once again to get my regular posts up, hopefully I can manage to get a lot more posts up than normal, as it is summer one of my goals is to increase my blog postings. So after my late night cramming of this subject yesterday I felt confident that I would be able to answer the majority of the topics that would comes up. There are always a select few questions that you hope come up and focus most of your studying on those. Luckily for me most of what I wanted to come up did :D. I decided for the first time to try and predict what I might get as a result in this subject, being fair with the marks I am awarding myself for each question, I think that the result I will get for this subject will be around 57%. Now I think that is not a bad score, I want over 50% so that I can get the right average to get into fourth year. I would like to get about 60% for this exam, I am not sure what my CA (Continuous Assessment) mark is for this subject so I included what I think it is into my score. My focus is just to get into fourth year, once I get into fourth year I want to really work for a high degree in it, I want to get somewhere in the high 80's next year in IT Management.

Computer Repair

Posted by: Sean | Posted on: August 29th, 2009 | 0 Comments

I enjoy messing about with computers and learning new ways of doing things or how to get the most out of a computer. Having knowledge of how a computer operates is very usefully when something goes wrong.

I have been using computers now for about 10 or 11 years and since my first day with them i have now become a lot more familiar with fixing problems. Before when i had little know-how on how a computer operated i would have to get someone down to have a look at the computer and fix it. So they would usually end up taking it away and then coming back a day or two later saying it would cost a fair bit of money.

I reckon that whenever a tech person takes away your computer, they probably have one look at it and most likely 99% of the time they will know how to fix it and it will probably only take a few hours, in most cases a run of an anti-virus program would sort out most problems. Then in that other 1% a more in depth investigation will be required to find out what is the problem.

Since i have such an interest in computers i was keen to find out how to fix them. Now if something goes wrong with my computer i can fix it easily with no hassle at all :D . It saves you so much time and money. By fixing it yourself it will not be broken for as long since you do not have to wait for your computer to be returned to you and also you do not have to pay those mental fees people try and ask for!

I talked to a few people before and they told me that they would take it to a PC clinic, like the ones they have in PC World. Before most places like this even look at your computer they will straight away charge you a standard fee of €50! That is just mad money, then on top of that you will get charged for any parts required etc...

Friends of mine always get me to have a look at their computers, and most of the time it would be something simple to fix such as a few viruses or maybe some spyware or even errors that have occurred. A lot of the time people ask, why is my computer going so slow?

A few simple things could be done to fix that big problem that you have, first make sure you have enough space on your disk drive, check for viruses / spyware , remove unnecessary programs,  and try a defrag of your hard drive. Most of the time that will work no problem and you will have your computer back up and running smoothly again.

It is strange that whenever i start to fix one person’s computer, suddenly loads more computers break and i end up getting asked to fix them. I think it is odd that they all break around the same time as each-other, or maybe it is just me thinking they do. I enjoy fixing them, and it also gets me a bit of money on the side whilst i am not at work ;) .

CCTV Web Cam

Posted by: Sean | Posted on: April 13th, 2009 | 0 Comments

Imagine setting up a CCTV sytem in your home, but instead of using the traditional method of camera connected to a recorder instead you use a webcam connected to your pc.

This is a great way of adding extra security to your home but in my opinion i would prefer to use the traditional method. I think that by connecting a webcam to your computer is fine however when you decide that you can stream it online to maybe a secure source, i think the risk becomes much greater. There is always a chance of somebody gaining access to your feed and perhaps they could know that you are not at home.

A woman in Florida done just this she set up a webcam in her home, however she was at work one day and decided to check in on her house and to her suprise when she flicked on the camera there were two men inside her house robbing it!

Imagine that, the chances of getting to witness that are slim. She quickly rang the police and they arrived to the house immediately and arrested the two people. 

If i switched on my webcam i think i would freak out if i saw people roaming around my house, looking through my stuff.

Below is a video that the woman recorded of the two intruders inside her house, she was asked by the police to describe the events happening while she watched the live video, at the end you can see the police begin to enter the house.