Check Out theD-Link DIR-655 Router & DWA-652 Notebook Adapter starting on Page 4 New Freeware -...

Utahrsquos Award Winning Computer Magazine

wwwucsorgThis Monthrsquos MeetingWednesday 12th at 7 pm

Vol ume 25 No 9 September 2007

ISSN 1061-5725

This Monthrsquos Presentation

Check Out theReview of

D-LinkDIR-655 Router

amp DWA-652Notebook Adapter

starting on Page 4

New Freeware -Utilities and Applications worth having on your PC

Presented by James Alexander

ALSOComputer Auction

(Delayed from Aug) We were not able to obtain a reservation for the

Olpin Union Building Theatre for Sep and Oct for our general meetings because of renovation we think The Engineering and Mines classroom building where we used to meet for our general meetings has been under renovation this summer but is to be fi nished by August 27th in time for the beginning of classes I am confi dent we will be able to use one of those classrooms for our Sep and Oct meetings so plan to meet there This for Sep and Oct only We will return to the Olpin Union Bld in Nov

Stuart GygiPresident Utah Computer Society

Page 2 Blue Chips Magazine mdash September 2007

trade

RecentInformation

By Cliff Millward Editorcliff mxmissioncom

More Musical ModulationsAllow me some leeway this month One of the great-

est singers who ever lived just died His name is Luciano Pavarotti He was born of humble parents his father was a baker in Modena Italy

He was diagnosed with cancer last year Treatment kept him alive for awhile but he fi nally succumbed Sep-tember 6 at his home in Modena

Many of us remember the highly successful ldquoTree Tenorsrdquo concert that he shared with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras I believe he was the greatest tenor since Enrico Caruso

I remember when I was about fi ve years old stand-ing of my tiptoes straining to put a 78rpm record of Carusorsquos ldquoO Solo Miordquo on my grandfatherrsquos fl oor stand-ing wind-up ldquoVictrolardquo

This has not been a good year for famous musicians The Opera singer Beverly Sills passed away earlier and so did the cello player Mstislav Rostropovich

I guess I am one of the few that appreciated classi-cal music from a very early age I never did appreciate ldquopopularrdquo as much as classical Not bragging just stat-ing fact

Rest in Peace Luciano Pavarotti

Parking Meter UpgradeYoursquoll love thisA New parking meter will allow you to pay by credit

Finegrave

card You can also add extra minutes without having to return to your car

It is called a Photo Violation Meter It allows you to swipe a credit card instead of fumbling around for change

But wait therersquos more It can also call your cell phone when your time is up and give you the option of putting additional minutes on the meter

So far about 300 meters are cur-rently installed in Niagara Falls San Francisco and Vancouver

Beware however -- if you fail to pay the meter will take a pixel picture of your license plate (So much for running out of fi lm)

Theyrsquore Beginning to Notice UsThere are about 78 million baby boomers - roughly

three times more than there are teenagers and 20+ adults Most of them are Internet users who learned their computer skills in the workplace

Sites are being built to capture the attention of this generation of Internet users who have more money and leisure time than those who are younger They are also more loyal than teens and donrsquot fl it from one site to the next

A social network for people who want to stay con-nected with existing friends and family is starting up in Boca Raton Florida It is called VantagePoint Venture Partners Another site will launch in mid-September and is called TBD which stands for ldquoTo Be Determinedrdquo These sites let you post profi les designate friends start and participate in discussions and get expert commen-tary Also many common problems can be discussed such as health family problems etc

Advertising will also be targeted toward older peo-ple such as Humana insurance Fidelity Investments pharmacy chains etc

Happy surfi ng the net on your wheel chair affi xed to a surf board


Blue Chips Magazine

Magazine Staff

Editor mdash Cliff Millward 955-9633Review Program Liaison mdash James Alexander 250-2269Review Product Editor mdash Donna Nendell 565-9594 Review EditorProduct Recruiter mdash Don Nendell 565-9594 Photography mdash LeRoy JohnsonProof Reader mdash Larry Lamph Doug Jackson

Advertising Rates

Ad costs 1 month 3 months 6 months 12 months2 Page Spread $150 $400 $700 $1200Full Page $100 $275 $500 $900Half Page $50 $130 $250 $450Quarter Page $25 $70 $130 $225Business Card $15 $30 $60 $120

Full page size is 7frac12 x 10 inches All other page sizes are based on a 7 x 10 inch page in order to conform to editorial style Half-page ads may be 7 x 5 inches or 3frac12 x 10 inches Quarter-page ads are 3frac12 x 5 inches Business card ads are 3frac12 x 2frac12 inches

Classified Advertising Utah Blue Chips members may place personal classified ads at no charge Maximum ad size is 7 lines 35 characters per line

Submissions Members are encouraged to submit text articles for pub li ca tion in ASCII text only Photos in TIF or JPG format only Line graphics tables in almost any vector or TIF format Do not imbed graphics or tables in text files All articles must be received by the 15th of the month preceding the month of publication All articles become the property of the Utah Computer Society and by submitting an article the author gives per mis sion for the Blue Chips Magazine Staff to edit the submission The author also gives permission for republication in other users groupsrsquo communications

Permission to Copy Permission is granted to other nonprofit PC user groups to reproduce any article published in this newsletter provided credit is given Blue Chips Mag a zine and the author (s) of the reproduced materials Re print ed articles are subject to the terms of their respective copyright holders

ldquoUtahrsquos Award Winning Pub li ca tionrdquo

Charter Member of theAssociation of PC User Groups

MONTHLY MEETING LOCATION2nd Wednesday of every month

University of Utah Union Building 700 pm

Officers and Trustees Eve Phone E-mailPresident Stuart Gygi 576-1891 sgygixmissioncomV Pres Larry Lamph 571-2908 larrylamphgmailcomSecretary Lowell Kenedy 278-3035 lkenedynetworldcomTreasurer John Witzel 296-1390 witzeljnetscapenetRick Gregory 582-7783 rfgcsolutionsnetDoug Jackson 322-2337 cjackson104hotmailcom

InformationPersons or companies may join or renew at the meeting or by sending a check payable to the Utah Computer Society to

Utah Computer Society Membership Secretary PO Box 510811 Salt Lake City UT 84151

Individual memberships are $25year Business Memberships are $3500 a yearCorporate sponsorships are available at two levels Corporate Sponsors enjoy all benefits of mem ber ship including multiple individual membership and prepaid advertising coverage Contact a Board Member for more information $10year memberships without the magazine are available for students other family and Senior Citizen Center members

Other important informationMeeting Information httpwwwucsorgGroup Business (James Alexander) 250-2269Magazine (Cliff Millward) 955-9633Program Coordinator (James Alexander) 250-2269Web Site httpwwwucsorgWebMaster 272-8949Membership (evenings) (Bob) 262-6045

September Renewals

James AlexanderLarry T GuiverCheryl GuiverWilliam C HallNiels C Jensen


D-Link XTREME N ldquoWIRELESSrdquo NETWORKING Part 4 - Section 1Featuring DIR-655 Gigabit Router and DWA-652 Network Adapter

Hardware Review

Reviewed by Don Nendell

ManufacturerD-Link Systems Inc17595 Mt Herrmann

Fountain Valley CA 92708Phone (800) 326-1688 800 am to 500

pm PST (Mon-Fri)Web Site httpwwwdlinkcom

D-Link Customer ServiceE-mail customerservicedlinkcomD-Link Tech Support (httpsupport

dlinkcom)Toll Free 24x7 (877) 45D-Link (453-5465)

Product Model D-Link DIR-655 XTREME N Gigabit Router

Technical Specifi cationsConnectivity Technology WirelessPlatform Windows PC and MacInterface Type4 Gigabit LAN Ports1 Gigabit WAN PortsUSB Port (for Windowsreg Connect Now)StandardsIEEE 80211n (draft 20) IEEE 80211g

IEEE 80211b IEEE 8023 IEEE 8023uANTENNA TYPE 3 ExternalSECURITY 64128-bit WEP amp WPA amp

WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access)ADVANCED FIREWALL FEATURES

Network Address Translation (NAT) Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) VPN Pass-through Multi-sessions PPTP L2TP IPSec

DEVICE MANAGEMENT Internet Explorerreg v6 or Later Mozillareg Firefoxreg v15 or Later or

other Java-enabled BrowsersLEDrsquos Power Status WAN WLAN (Wire-

less Connection) LAN (101001000) USBCERTIFICATIONS FCC Class B + IC amp

Wi-FiregDimensionsItem (WxDxH) 46rdquo x 76rdquo x 12rdquoPackaging (WxDxH) 81rdquo x 109rdquo x 26rdquoWeightItem 07 lbsPackaging 20 lbsSystem RequirementsRecommendedFor Optimal Wireless PerformanceUse with Xtreme N Adapters (DWA-552DWA-556 DWA-643 or DWA-652)MinimumComputer with- Windows Vistatrade Windows XPreg SP2

(Computer must adhere to Microsoftrsquos recom-mended System) Requirements or Mac OSreg X (v104)4

- Internet Explorer v6 or Mozilla Firefox v15

- CD-ROM- Network Interface CardFor Internet Access Connection to Broad-

band Internet- Cable or DSL Modem Subscription with

an Internet Service Provider (ISP)Package Contents

Xtreme N Gigabit Router3 Detachable AntennasCAT5 Ethernet CablePower Adapter 120V60Hz DC Power

OutletCD-ROM5 with- Installation Wizard- Product DocumentationPrice range$17999 at D-Linkrsquos Web Site (httpwww

dlinkcom)$11799 - $16295 from 15 Stores (at buy-

ersedgecom)$11500 - $17908 from 15 Stores (at

smartercom)$11999 - $14999 from 15 Stores (at nex-

tagcom)Warranty 1-Year Limited Warranty avail-

able only in the USA and CanadaWindows Vista Support

PreludeTo the uninitiated (ie those not

familiar with my ldquoSecurity by Un-masking Obscurityrdquo Singleness-of-mind bent) it may seem as if I have departed from my Security-at-all-costs norm Not so Not so I have had se-curity of my Home (P2P) Network on my mind throughout this entire series of reviews Just Watch me

And now the rest of the story Again And yet again

Irsquom back to my old tricks with my 4-Part - 3 consecutive months - D-Link Reviews DVC-1000 Vid-eoPhone (Part 2 of the reviews) DVC-1100 VideoPhone (Part 3 of the reviews) and now DIR-655 XTREME N Gigabit Router and DWA-652 XTREME N Notebook Adapter (Part 4 of the reviews spread over Sections 12 amp 3) Here in Part 4 of the reviews wersquore con-tinuing with the ldquoWirelessrdquo side of Don and Donnarsquos Home (P2P) Network (See Home (P2P) Network graphic)

As I wrote in Part 3 of the re-views ldquoThey say that the road to Hades is paved with good intentions And as I

mentioned in Part 1 of the reviews lsquoI [had] fully intended for this to be only a 2-for-the price-of-one review sand-wiched in between my on-goingnever-endinglife and death battles with all my lsquorotten-to-the corersquo computersrsquordquo Well wersquove fi nally arrived at the core-ex-perience of these 4 reviews ldquoWireless Communications on Steroidsrdquo

Latest Update on Wireless Technology (WT)

Julie Sartain tells us in her most recent article New Trends In Wireless Where Wireless Is Headed For The SME (Processor magazine August 17 2007 pg 9 ltwwwprocessorcomgt) ldquoTrends in wireless communications today are vast and exciting and accelerating at the high speeds they employ Wersquore living in the future now where science and science fi ction are fused We have wireless computers wireless Internet

Hardware Review


WANs and LANs wireless keyboards and mice pagers and PDArsquos and wire-less printers scanners cameras and hubs Our childrenrsquos children (or maybe even our children) will say lsquoWhatrsquos an extension cordrsquordquo

Even closer to the nub of these re-views up til now it never really dawned on me in writing this D-Link 4-Part series of reviews just exactly what the true (said overall) picture of the battle for ldquoourrdquo - thatrsquos mine and yours - Internet access dollars is really all about Answer Itrsquos all about Millions and Billions even 100rsquos of Billions of dollars And guess what ldquoTheyrdquo all ultimately have to please us or itrsquos ldquoKatie-bar-the-door for themrdquo Itrsquos kind of like ldquopublish or perishrdquo in the world of Academia Duh

S o m e Background Telecommuni-cations maga-zine in its Au-gust 2007 issue (wwwtelecom-magazinecom) which BTW Irsquove been receiving for wel l over a y e a r n o w partially and quite helpfully showed me the way Sean Buckley Telecommunications Executive Editor in his THINKING OUT LOUD column entitled Cable operators get serious about Ethernet states ldquoI used to think telecommunica-tions and cable communities operated much like high school cliques telecom on one side with a voice heritage cable on the other with video Despite cablersquos video tradition - now threatened by telco build - out of video offerings - cable operators have mixed up a pot of tele-com services for residential and more importantly business customers The major element of cablersquos business drive Ethernetrdquo

Yes Theyrsquore fighting for our attention and thatrsquos ldquomainlyrdquo what all these reviews have been trying to share with you herein Most of all that ldquoStuffrdquo is right here right now with D-Link lead-ing the way

Get it Got it Good

Just think back how far the Commu-nications Industry has come Here again from Telecommunications magazine (August 2007 issue) we get a 10-year flash back (See Telecommunication magazine graphic) Itrsquos simply astound-ing and itrsquos only going to get better for us all

D-Link Review Articles Back-ground

As a good example in hindsight its really hard to imagine one (1) con-tinuous Review in 4 (separate) Parts based on but one familyrsquos Home (P2P)

Network Such-a-life And just imag-ine you can easily do it too with sterling help from a great group of people at D-Linkrsquos marvelous 24x7 Tech Sup-port if ldquoyourdquo ever need them that is Hoorah

Oh yes Do please see the previ-ous Parts 1 amp 2 of the reviews in the July 2007 BCM archives and Part 3 of the reviews in the August 2007 BCM archives (at wwwucsorg) Also may I respectfully suggest you always select the pdf versions for their artis-tic beauty And now onward and upward

What the industry analysts have been saying about the next generation in Wi-Fi technology

ldquoWith the arrival of Wi-Fi CERTI-FIED 80211n draft 20 products we end the practice of uncertain claims of Wi-Fi draft compliance by independent vendors Consumers can now purchase products with improved performance and be assured of interoperability Prospective buyers should understand that the Wi-Fi Alliance will provide future certification for the eventual 80211n final specification and assess their own time-frame for a move-ment to 80211nrdquo - Ken Dulaney Vice President and Distinguished Analyst in Gartner Research

ldquoSo from low price to amazing per-formance [802]11n is going to shake up the WLAN space perhaps like no development ever has before And itrsquos all going to happen with unprecedented market velocityrdquo - Craig Matthias Prin-cipal Farpoint Group

Get the picture Itrsquos here right now folks And D-Link has it ready for you in a neat little pack-


age The one I have chosen to review for you is the D-Link DIR-655 (DIR-655) XTREME N Gigabit Router and the DWA-652 XTREME N Notebook Adapter Card (DWA-652) in a ldquoWirelessrdquo Network (See graphic ldquoProducts that work with the DIR-655rdquo) Need I say more OK You asked for it Here goes

Even More D-Link Shock and Awe - With a Capital ldquoFamily Funrdquo

W e l l ldquo W o u l d y o u lookie hererdquo T h e s e n e a t ldquoBabiesrdquo easily hooked right into my ldquoup-gradedrdquo Home (P2P) Network

arrangement (See Home (P2P) Network graphic) ldquoBang Bangrdquo They ldquoCompletely throttled every-thingrdquo ldquoGrabbed the lsquowhole thingrsquo by its throatrdquo and literally repeat lit-erally ldquoBlew the socks right off my old existing cable network with their highly touted lsquoUp to 6X Range and 14X Speed plus WPA and WPA2 Access and Transfer Securityrsquordquo Truth be known it was all really ldquovery very impressiverdquo and the new systemrsquos increased download speed was ldquoim-mediately noticeablerdquo I still havenrsquot figured out how D-Link is able to take an existing ldquolocked-in Internet throughput downloadupload speed limitationrdquo (via my installed 100MB NIC cards) and kick it into such a ldquoHigh Gearrdquo But they really have

Bottom Line Here is my re-view in a nutshell for you once again ldquoIt really worksrdquo ldquoItrsquos incrediblerdquo ldquoItrsquos fun for allrdquo Itrsquos beautiful easy to use and works like a charmrdquo Well there you have it thatrsquos My D-Link DIR-655 XTREME N Router DWA-652 XTREME N Note-book Adapter Card ldquoWirelessrdquo Network review ldquoBam Bam It works ex-actly as advertised and itrsquos defi-nitely a lsquoKick-in-the-Buttrsquordquo

PS When everything finally fell neatly into place when all was said and done I learned a great deal about ldquoHomerdquo (P2P) Networking In hindsight it really was relatively easy and followed along exactly as the manuals said it would What a Hoot But more elaboration on these par-ticulars in a little bit that is if you are of a mind to know more of the details If so Read on McDuff

Introduction to The ldquoSouped-Up Wirelessrdquo DIR-655DWA-652 Setup

Q Why specifi-cally the D-Link DIR-655 XTREME N Router DWA-652 XTREME N Notebook Adapter Card ldquoWirelessrdquo Network Setup (See Part 4 in the Home (P2P) Network dia-gram)

A My Line of Reasoning Be-cause everything in my Home (P2P) network was already in place - ready and waiting for something ldquogreatrdquo to hap-pen thatrsquos why Besides the DIR-655 is ldquoOnlyrdquo the ldquoTop-of-the-linerdquo D-Link router Ahem As I quoted D-Link in Part 3 of these reviews ldquoThe DVC-1100 [VideoPhone] introduces the world of videoconferencing over the Internet to bring you your family friends and colleagues together By using Enhanced 80211b you can place the DVC-1100 next to the family television ldquowithout running network cablesrdquo for your broadband connection around the house (My emphasis here) Since the DVC-1100 VideoPhone is a standalone device no computer is needed when you videoconference over the Internetrdquo


It goes without saying undoubt-edly thatrsquos truly the greatest innova-tion since ldquoLow Quarter Shoes were introduced to the American GIrsquos way back whenrdquo But that particular portion of the whole P2P system (Re Part 3 in the Home (P2P) Network diagram) has only WEP encryption capability plus it only has 80211bg capabil-ity not 80211n capability What that effectively means is I would lose both the publicized ldquoUp to 6X Range and 14X Speedrdquo advantage that the DIR-655 Router gives me plus the stronger and thus the more secure ldquoWPA and WPA2 encryptionrdquo capabilities

(Donrsquot say I didnrsquot warn you about my security interests - )

In other words I would totally negate virtually all of my ldquoXTREME N Gigabitrdquo potentialities by hooking it up to the DI-624DVC-1100 combo ie lose those vaunted and eagerly cherished DIR-655 ldquooverkillrdquo and Vastly Increased SpeedRangeSecurity capabilities Which is the very purpose of installing an ldquoXTREME N Gigabit Routerrdquo system (ie the ldquoWirelessrdquo Network) in the first place

Besides the DIR-655 is physi-cally located ldquoright smack dab in the middle of our complete Net-workrdquo which therefore makes it located too far from the Cable Modem to retain its fabulous ef-fectiveness (See Caveat below) Makes immanent sense to me

WHAT The DIR-655 Router DOES

Some of the more important ldquoFeatures and Benefitsrdquo of the D-Link DIR-655 XTREME N Gigabit Router are

1 Create a wireless network to share high-speed Internet access with computers game consoles or media players at far greater speeds in your home or SOHO

Note Draft 20 80211n pro-vides speeds up to 14x faster than a ldquoWireless Grdquo network (Such as the two (2) DI-624 Routers currently in my Home (P2P) Network system et al)

Caveat Maximum wireless signal rate is derived from IEEE Standard 80211b specifications Your actual data throughput will vary FYI Network conditions and environmental factors including volume of network traffic building materials and construction and network overhead can lower actual data throughput rate Also environmental factors will adversely affect any wireless signal range outdoors

2 Achieve greater coverage for your entire home SOHO or Busi-ness with up to 6X the extended range of a ldquoWireless Grdquo network

Note Xtreme N technology is ldquospecifically designedrdquo to allow for ldquofartherrdquo home SOHO or Busi-ness coverage

Caveat Wireless range and speed rates are D-Link ldquorelativerdquo performance measurements based on the wireless range and speed rates of a standard Wireless G product from D-Link Maxi-mum throughput is based on D-Link 80211n Draft 2 devices (See graphic on comparisons)

3 Intelli-gent Wireless Prioritization Technology

N o t e D -Linkrsquos Intel-l i g e n t Q o S (Quality of Ser-vice) Technol-ogy provides for Superior VoIP Online Gaming etc

This explanation is important D-Link advises ldquoWith some Routers all wired and wireless traffic including VoIP Video Streaming Online Gaming and Web browsing are mixed together into a single data stream By handling data this way applications like video streaming could pause or [even] delay With D-Linkrsquos Intelligent QoS Technol-ogy wired and wireless traffic is ana-lyzed and separated into multiple data streams These streams are then catego-rized by sensitivity to delay so applica-tions like VoIP Video Streaming and Online Gaming are given priority over Web browsing [and sending e-mails] This enables multiple applications to stream smoothly to your TV or PCrdquo

4 Wish TechnologyNote This technology works

hand-in-hand with QoS (which selects which feed has high band-width priority over another trans-mission (See above)) and helps with media streaming video and gaming giving them priority over other regular ldquoStuffrdquo like e-mails file sharing etc

5 Secure your wireless net-work using advanced WEP WPA or WPA2 encryption

Note It goes without saying


this is probably the most ldquodear to my heartrdquo part of the Xtreme N Wireless technology ie ldquoIts In-creased Security capabilityrdquo (More on this topic below naturally)

6 Itrsquos easy to get started with D-Linkrsquos new Quick Router Setup Wizard (See The ldquoHow Tordquo Part below)

7 Supports Good Neighbor Policy

Note Xtreme N will not inter-fere with other ldquoWirelessrdquo net-works It is backward compatible with 80211g and 80211b devices including game consoles and digi-tal media players

8 BEST-IN-CLASS FEA -TURES

Note Herersquos what D-Link has to say on that particular subject

ldquoPowered by Xtreme N technol-ogy and equipped with three external antennas this [Top-of-the-Line] router provides superior wireless coverage for larger homes and offices or for users running bandwidth-intensive ap-plications The DIR-655 also includes a 4-port 101001000 Gigabit switch that connects Gigabit wired devices for enjoying lag-free network gaming and faster file transfers

ldquoD-Linkrsquos Xtreme N Gigabit Router was rigorously tested and verified for compatibility with Intelrsquos Next-Gen Wireless N utilizing intensive real-

world testing conducted in typical home and enterprise environment scenarios In Intelrsquos testing process which was conducted over the period of several months D-Linkrsquos Xtreme N router met or exceeded Intelrsquos requirements for per-formance extended range co-existence with other 80211bg clients and access points and the ability to eliminate Wi-Fi dead spotsrdquo

In Summary While delivering best-in-class performance network security and coverage itrsquos easy to see why the DIR-655 is the ideal centerpiece for your ldquoWirelessrdquo network in the home or SOHO (See also the DIR-655 Works With graphic) Olin Coles of Benchmark Reviews says it this way ldquoIn the past year alone I have sold and installed nearly sixty WiFi routers and in nearly every case that wireless router was the Linksys WRT54G Not anymore and most likely never againrdquo

Yes Personally I couldnrsquot say it any better

Herersquos yet another very Very Important Reminder

Please visit the D-Link web site and take in the 600 minute D-LinkTV Presentation on Easy Steps to Securing Your Home Network by Mike and Heemok at lthttpwwwdlinkcomproductssec=1amppid=530gt Click on the ldquoWatch Episode on easy steps to securing your home net-workrdquo graphic on the web site

Caveat Donrsquot miss this one above all if you do anything

Also you can also see lots lots more timely and important D-LinkTV Presentations while yoursquore at D-LinkTV Therersquos a total of 146 videos that you can ldquoclickrdquo on and learn ldquoA Tonrdquo from at lthttpwwwdlinktvcomgt (Under ldquoVideo Spotlightrdquo choose ldquoAll Videosrdquo to display all 146 videos ) Of the 46 of the total that are Home and Home Office videos and the 22 QampA vid-eos be sure to see Digital Home DIY Episode 2 and QampA Episode 20 (Router Configuration) While yoursquore there why not see them all and ldquoLearn a great deal about net-workingrdquo Itrsquos ldquoFreerdquo So do it


The ldquoHow Tordquo PartThe DIR-655 can be configured

using the easy-to-use Setup Wizard (or the handy manual on the CDROM) that guides you step by step through the setup process and makes it easy to personalize and change your ldquoWirelessrdquo Internet Access options

Caveat The 600 minute D-LinkTV Presentation on ldquoEasy Steps to Securing Your Home Networkrdquo (See above) will be a truly great help in the Installation process believe me Also some graphics I captured from the D-LinkTV Presentation ldquoNetwork Securityrdquo spell out the ldquoSecurityrdquo basics ldquovery succinctlyrdquo for us (BTW Donrsquot miss either Presentation)

Important Note Herersquos an-other fabulous ldquoBarn Burnerrdquo for you D-Link has ldquobrilliantlyrdquo provided all of us a ldquoFreerdquo playground to practice ldquosetting uprdquo any of their fabulous products Itrsquos called ldquoEmulatorsrdquo You can try all types of configurations on their web site and not have to worry about ldquomessing uprdquo your own precious network Simply go to lthttpsupportdlinkcomgt and click on ldquoEmulatorsrdquo Itrsquos foolproof itrsquos completely harmless and itrsquos a great learning ldquoPlaygroundrdquo So get with it

FAQrsquos of Particular InterestLast time I checked there

were 34 FAQrsquos concerning the DIR-655 Please refer to them for any additional help before calling Tech Support They are a tremendous help and yoursquoll find them at lthttpsupportdlinkcomfaqsearchaspgt There are a couple FAQrsquos that are of special interest that Irsquod like to share with you here (See the graphic)

We continue now with Part 4 Section 2 on the next page

0 Blue Chips Magazine mdash September 2007


Product Model D-Link DWA-652 XTREME N Notebook Adapter

Product DetailsConnectivity Technology WirelessPlatform Windows PC and MacRecommended System Require-

mentsComputer with Windowsreg XP SP2 or

Windows 2000 SP4 (Computer must adhere to Microsoftrsquos recommended System Require-ments)

CD-ROM Drive20MB Hard Disk Space32-bit Cardbus SlotFor Internet Access Connection to

Broadband Internet- Cable or DSL Modem Subscription with

an Internet Service Provider (ISP)Specifi cationsStandards IEEE 80211n (draft 20)

IEEE 80211g amp IEEE 80211bInterface 32-bit CardbusWireless Frequency Range 24GHz to

24835GHzSecurity Wired Equivalent Privacy

(WEP) amp Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA WPA2)LEDs Link amp ActivityCertifi cations FCC Class B amp CEDimensionsItem (WxDxH) 21rdquo x 47rdquo x 03rdquoPackaging (WxDxH) 68rdquo x 95rdquo x 14rdquoWeightItem 01 lbsPackaging 05 lbsWarranty 1 Year Limited Warranty

(Available only in the USA and Canada)Package ContentsXtreme N Notebook AdapterQuick Installation GuideCD-ROM (Latest software and documen-

tation are available at lthttpsupportdlinkcomgt) with

Installation WizardDriversProduct DocumentationProduct FeaturesDraft 20 80211n Speeds Up to 14x Faster

than Wireless GWirelessly Stream HD Video Share Files

and Go OnlineEnable Superior Reception from Farther

DistancesBackward Compatible with 80211g and

80211b NetworksPricing Comparison14 Web Site Stores Prices Range from

$8673 to $10595lthttpwwwdlinkcomproductsviewOn-

lineRetailersasppid=532ampsec=0gt

Home Network Building With D-Link ProductsLike All Mine Are

To reacquaint you with Part 3 of the reviews the DVC-1100 (which is located in our livingfamily room) is ldquoWirelesslyrdquo connected to an existing DI-624 Wireless Ethernet Broad-band Router (or it could just as easily be a DI-614 DIR-655 et al) which is actually located in Don-narsquos computer room Bottom Line The actual connection to our HDTV and subsequent setting up of the DVC-1100 was literally a snap after the ldquoIPCop Firewall Port Forwardingrdquo situation was solved as you may recall So the next question logically becomes ldquoNow what else can we add to our marvelous Home (P2P) Network systemrdquo

The Answer ldquoOptional Equip-mentrdquo because the DIR-655 works with several other components (See ldquoWorks Withrdquo graphic)

Now we add the DWA-652 XTREME N Notebook Adapter Card (DWA-652) to the mix

A s y o u can see in the ldquoWorks Withrdquo graphic there are a number of other com-ponents that comprise the XTREME N

ldquoWirelessrdquo stable of components sur-rounding the DIR-655 Router I es-pecially chose the DWA-652 Notebook Adapter Card so I can roam freely any-where - anytime I so choose - around my house or outside in my small personal offi ce or even out on the front porchin the back yard actually wherever I choose to go and always be assured that I have at my immediate disposal the fastest most ldquosecure accessrdquoto the Internet thatrsquos ever possible ldquoanywhererdquo throughout the whole Home (P2P) Network Hoorah

About The DWA-652 XTREME N Notebook Adapter Card

The DWA-652 is designed for use in larger homes and offi ces or for users running multiple bandwidth-intensive applications It connects a Laptop ora Notebook computer to an existing ldquoWirelessrdquo network to access a Cable or DSL high-speed Internet connection to transfer fi les and stream media around your home or offi ce

The DWA-652 is a WiFi Draft 20 80211n ldquoWirelessrdquo client (See Draft 20 Specifi cations above) that delivers unrivaled ldquoWirelessrdquo performance for Laptop andor Notebook computers Once you are connected you are able

D-Link XTREME N ldquoWIRELESSrdquo NETWORKING Part 4 - Section 2Featuring DWA-652 Network Adapter Hardware Review


to share a Cable or DSL high-speed In-ternet connection photos files music videos printers and storage When it is specifically connected to a DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit Router it can trans-fer your ldquoStuffrdquo at rates of up to 6X faster and up to 14X greater distances than a standard 80211g ldquoWirelessrdquo network Most importantly from my own personal perspective it supports WEP WPA and WPA2 encryption that allows you to connect more ldquoSecurelyrdquo to a ldquoWirelessrdquo network (More on this later naturally - )

EASY TO SETUP EASY TO USE D-Linkrsquos Quick Adapter Setup Wizard guides you effortlessly ldquoStep-by-Steprdquo through the installation process plus therersquos a D-Link Wireless Manager also included to keep track of all your most frequently accessed networks so that you can rejoin them quickly and easily if you desire

DWA-652 XTREME N Note-book Adapter Card Benefits

Note Please refer to ldquoWHAT The DIR-655 Router DOESrdquo (in Section 1) for a more comprehen-sive list of details (both devices are totally compatible and equally similar in their Features and Benefits) When the DWA-652 accesses a DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit Rout-er simply stated the Features and Benefits are

1 Delivers up to 14x faster speeds

and 6x farther range than ldquoWirelessrdquo 80211g

Note The DWA-652 is back-ward compatible with existing 80211g and 80211b networks so not to worry about that

2 Xtreme N technology enables HD video streaming file sharing enhanced Internet phone calling (VoIP) and surf-ing the Web

3 Access ldquoSecurerdquo wireless net-works using advanced WEP WPA or WPA2 encryption (See more on this Benefit below)

4 Easy to install and use with D-Linkrsquos new Quick Adapter Setup Wizard

Thatrsquos about it The DWA-652 is a perfect complement to the DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit ldquoWirelessrdquo network setup It provides all the mobility speed range freedom convenience and ldquoSe-curityrdquo you could ever want in a ldquoWire-lessrdquo WiFi device Period

Psst Herersquos an item for you When you need to go outdoors you donrsquot have to buy an expensive Panasonic ToughBook to rough it just put your Laptop or Notebook in a ldquoToughrdquo OtterBox carrying case (See models at ltwwwotterboxcomgt) Ta Da




Be Forewarned This is Donrsquos Personal Soapbox Time Or Is It Sandbox

ldquoThe enormous growth and univer-sal acceptance of e-Commerce brings implications for both corporate users and the general public Increased use of [the] Internet has enhanced the oppor-tunity for spreading malicious software or unauthorized access to confi dential information due to higher degree of inter-connectivity between different networks The potential for attacks and reach of their consequences make it clear that wherever there are users communicating online there must also be a means of securing those commu-nicationsrdquo - e-Security Expo 2007 Promo

ldquoSecurityrdquo is Paramount to Us All Whether You Know It or Not Hopefully After All My Rav-ings You Do BTAIM Given its vastly increased speed and range herersquos where this Xtreme N Gigabit ldquoWirelessrdquo network setup makes the greatest sense to me to you and potentially to everyone ldquoItrsquos all about lsquoCommu-nications Securityrsquo my friendsrdquo ldquoYou can become an instant sta-tistic casualty andor point-of-attack at any time anywhere as well as lose your shirt identity reputation et al all through a stealth-like ldquoHack Attackrdquo

Some Supporting Facts The DIR-655 supports the latest ldquoWire-lessrdquo security features to help prevent any unauthorized access albeit from within your Home (P2P) Wireless Network or from the Internet It does this through support for WEP WPA and WPA2 standards which ensures that you will always be able to use the best and strongest possible encryption regardless of any of your client devices The DIR-655 accomplishes this by using ldquoDual Active Firewallrsquosrdquo (ie SPI and NAT) to prevent potential attacks from across the Internet Take my word for it ldquoAnything can happen and most

likely will happen given the lsquoHackers MotivationMentalityCapabilityrsquo to get at your ldquoStuffrdquo

Slight Diversion Time -Herersquos A Timely Incred-

ible ldquoWireless Communicationsrdquo ldquoHackerrdquo Success Story for You CTIA The Wireless Association reports that ldquothe Mobile Device no longer a device of privilege is now a multi-faceted tool used by over 240 million subscribers in the US alone making it truly the lifestyle productivity tool of the futurerdquo In that vein the hottest craze in the nation the iPhone is destined to swell this Internet access device list of subscribers in the US alone exponentially FYI The ldquoHackersrdquo started working on ldquohacking the iPhonerdquo the instant they hit the market You all know the story itrsquos huge [See also Peter Svenssonrsquos related article Teen unlocks ATampTrsquos hold over iPhone in the Saturday August 25 2007 Salt Lake Tribune Money Section pg C1 ltwwwsltribcomgt as well as CNBCrsquos (Yoursquove simply got to see this one for yourself) ldquoLive on Air Interviewrdquo of George Hotz the iPhone Hacker (715 total at lthttpwwwyoutubecomwatchv=9Hk-OTqx8hQgt) and therersquos tonrsquos more too]

In case you didnrsquot know herersquos the latest ldquoupdaterdquo on that same incredible story George Hotz grabbed an even bigger jackpot with his ldquoWorld-beating Hackrdquo 1) Hersquos already listed in Wikipedia the free encyclopedia plus 2) He promptly traded his secondldquohackedrdquo iPhone for a ldquosweetrdquo (Hotzrsquos description) Nissan 350Z and 3 more 8GB iPhones and 3)www49abcnewscom reported that hersquos ldquoalreadyrdquo been offered an internship by Google I should be quick to point out that he accomplished all of this in just a couple of days then he promptly did his own impression of ldquoLittle Red Riding Hoodrdquo and ldquospedrdquo off to college like a ldquoGood Little Teenagerrdquo

Note of Curiosity I wonder

if ldquoMasterrdquo Hotz will need his text messaging address to be changed to 1234567890tmomailnet now or will he keep his 1234567890txtattnet ad-dress or can he will he use both now that hersquos ldquoHacked the iPhonerdquo

BTW You did know didnrsquot you that you can forward or send a message from your e-mail to a mobile phone user from your own PCrsquos (or Laptoprsquos) e-mail as a text message You only need to know that personrsquos cell phone number and cell phone service provider (See the example for George above) As a quick reminder as if you needed one in the ldquoTo linerdquo for Verizon for example type in [phonenumber]vtextcom for SprintNextel type in [phonenumber]messagingsprintpcscom for T-Mobile type in [phonenumber]tmomailn e t a n d f o r A T amp T t y p e i n [phonenumber]txtattnet (where [phonenumber] is the personrsquos cell phone number Thought Irsquod just throw that one in for ldquoFreerdquo

BTW Therersquos no ldquoSecurityrdquo this way either but at least you can do it from your new DWA-652 Notebook Adapter from ldquovirtually anywhererdquo Pretty convenient if both parties are mobile somewhere out thereOoooh

D-Link XTREME N ldquoWIRELESSrdquo NETWORKING Part 4 - Section 3Featuring the DIR-655 Gigabit Router and DWA-652 Network Adapter

Hardware Review


Oh BTW I did mention that ldquoSecurityrdquo was my middle name leading in to this review didnrsquot I Yeah I certainly did Canrsquot seem to help myself either And herersquos why

The list of ldquoHacker Attackrdquo possibili-ties is virtually limitless and accelerating rapidly The damage any ldquointerloperrdquo can do is absolutely immense if not devastating overall to you per-sonally your family your com-pany or to potentially anyone else out there on the Internet Itrsquos just that critical believe me

Worse Case Scenario You could even end up with the ldquoFedsrdquo swooping in and seizing your PC(s) Aw Shucks That couldnrsquot happen to you now could it Nah

As Irsquove written many times before here in these reviews thatrsquos only a part of the reason why Irsquove spent the past 12+ years patenting and perfecting my Security Suite technology (See the Au-toEnc(54) review in the August 2006 BCM Archives at ltwwwucsorggt Also may I once again respectfully suggest you always select the pdf versions when you do visit our BCM (magazine) Archives for their artistic beauty)

So you ask Where does all this fit into the picture here in these reviews Keith Shaw of Net-work World in an interview on D-Link Live at the recent Interop 2007 stated that ldquoMost of the traffic on a network is IP-based both data and voice The an-swer for us here my friends is ldquoWirelessrdquo Communications - all kinds of ldquoWire-lessrdquo or ldquoMobilerdquo Communications Itrsquos all the rage today and growing by leaps and bounds as I reported above as well as most assuredly the ldquoHacking communityrdquo Itrsquos a fait accompli that the ldquoHackersrsquo own the Internet and an ldquoOpen Unsecured Wirelessrdquo Ac-cess Point (AP) or any ldquoWirelessrdquo Router like the DIR-655 Router is like a ldquoRotating Beaconrdquo to them and is the bane of all security just ask any War Driver

Def war driving n A computer cracking technique that involves driving through a neighborhood with a wire-less-enabled notebook computer and mapping houses and businesses that

have wireless access points [APrsquos] Also wardriving war-driving

FYI Google Results 1 - 10 of about 2110000 for wardriving (014 seconds)

Note I just this minute checked and Heavens I must be losing my marbles I havenrsquot warned you about war driving since my last four (4) D-Link reviews way back 5 years ago in the August thru November 2002 D-Link Review time frame and also at the now defunct Blue Chips ldquoWirelessrdquo Special Interest Group (SIG) which we started in October 2002

For shame Don This ldquoHack-ingrdquo area is exceedingly danger-ous and extremely crucial stuff It is also a backdoor to Iden-tity theft which Irsquove continually harped on throughout the other 35 ldquoSecurity-Relatedrdquo reviews Irsquove written for well over 7+ years now (See graphic)

More FYI ldquoe pluribus unumrdquo Herersquos a good example of a ldquowar driv-ingrdquo article War driving by the Bay by Kevin Poulsen SecurityFocus (See this one at lthttpwwwsecurityfocuscomnews192gt

A word to the wise - which I sincerely hope is sufficient - itrsquos all about ldquoSecurityrdquo my ldquonaiverdquo friends ldquoTotal security pure and simplerdquo Get With It Or Prepare Yourself for Getting Torpedoed Not if but when

Herersquos the Bottom Line and Itrsquos The Primary Reason Why Irsquove Undertaken Writing These D-Link Reviews My D-Link XTREME N ldquoWirelessrdquo network ldquoSecurityrdquo setup (See Part 4 of our Home (P2P) Network diagram in Part 4 Section 1 of these reviews) fills that portion of the ldquohackerrdquo problem for me perfectly in my humble considered opinion naturally -

FYI If I had wanted to I could have just as easily put the DIR-655 Router in the place of the DI-624 Router (Again see Part 2 of our Home (P2P) Net-work diagram in Part 4 Section 1 of these reviews) ie out in my own private office however in so doing I would have needed to install a separate DWA-552 XTREME N Desktop Adapter in my primary HP Media Cen-ter (Desktop) PC (ldquoYou recall in Part 1 of these reviews my mentioning ldquoitrdquo in passing donrsquot you) In order to maintain the maximum efficiency of the DIR-655 Router Otherwise the DIR-655 Routerrsquos main benefits would be lost to me A tough choice to make for sure Yet having only one (1) DIR-655 Router at my disposal plus completely trusting the ldquoDIR-655 test resultsrdquo from Tim Higginsrsquo excellent review of the DIR-655 at SmallNet-Builder (See graphic and actual review at lthttpwwwsmallnetbuildercomcontentview3008796gt) and using them as my guidepost plus mainly opting for the ldquoFreedomrdquo to Roam and ldquoCommunicate Securelyrdquo repeat Securely ldquoAnywhererdquo


was the guiding element I looked for in my final decision Therefore to repeat my ldquoFinal Setuprdquois The DIR-655 Router is located beside the DI-624 Router in Donnarsquos Office (Once again see Part 3 of our Home (P2P) Network diagram in Part 4 Section 1)

Caveat Irsquove shared with you herein just a couple of ldquoHackingrdquo examples - which is literally the tip of the iceberg - my friendsrdquoAnd this deadly lsquoHack-ingrsquo stuff only gets bigger more intense and even more dastardly with each passing dayrdquo

Psst Thatrsquos what Irsquom ldquotryingrdquo to share with you hererdquoElectronic Communications Securityrdquo ldquoWhewrdquo he says wiping his sweaty brow

And Now Therersquos Yahoo Wid-gets Say What

Irsquove run out of time folks but this is quite a novel very interesting ingenious and intriguing idea - one completely new to me - which can now be found on D-Linkrsquos web site It seems you can now download and ldquoFreelyrdquo use something called Yahoo Widgets (Note Therersquos 1000rsquos of them) Of interest to us herein is a particular Yahoo Widget which you can use to view key DIR-655 Router network performance data including Internet and network connection speeds IP ad-

dresses numbers of networked devices ldquoSecurityrdquo settings and more (See additional Yahoo Widgets graphics and details at lthttpwwwdlinkcomproductsDIR-655yahoo-widgetsgt) Bears checking out Irsquod say

Oh I Almost forgot NotThis One is Ideal For Expand-

ing Your Gigabit Network To make our Home (P2P) Network ldquoAll That It Can Berdquo all I need to do now is to replace the current 5-port ldquohubrdquo (no names mentioned here) with a D-Link 5-port 101001000 Desktop Switch (DGS-2205) Reasoning The DGS-2205 provides the best solution for expanding our Home (P2P) Network into a full-blown ldquoGigabit networkrdquo With gigabit speed being 10 times faster than a 100Mbps Fast Ethernet connection this will enable us to save time transferring bandwidth-intensive music video photos graphic and data files -

So Overall How Do I Rate the DIR-655

Itrsquos about time yoursquod thinkPros Naturally all the Pros of

the DIR-655 are way too numerous to count But primarily it boils down to the following points standing out 1) The DIR-655 is very affordable and readily available for the average Home User 2) It is the ldquoFastestrdquo ldquoFarthest Reachingrdquo and ldquoSafest Most Secure Wireless Network Routerrdquo available in the business to-day 3) D-Linkrsquos vaunted Tech Support will always be there for you 24x7 to ldquoBAIL YOU OUTrdquo of any problems you ldquomight happenrdquo to encounter and 4) It goes without saying ldquoItrsquos a whale of a lot of fun for everyone toordquo

ConsPersonally I canrsquot think of any

mainly because D-Linkrsquos vaunted Tech Support is always there for you 24x7 I mean what more could you ask for

And The DWA-652More of the same only it goes

double because it is the ldquoIdeal Companionrdquo to the DIR-655 Thatrsquos said Period

To SummarizeStrangely I still cannot see how

some companies can market their pricey ldquoWirelessrdquo Routers - like the Bountiful Router for instance - which is listed at $625US MSRP (wwwbountifulwificom) Therersquos gotta be a good reason when yoursquove got a very ldquocompetitiverdquo D-Link DIR-655 XTREME N Gigabit Router (DIR-655) which sells for be-tween $11800 - $17000 Go figure

In ConclusionAdding each D-Link component to

my personal Home (P2P) Network sys-tem one at a time - or singly - is al-most a ldquono-brainerrdquo Itrsquos really relatively easy Thatrsquos the way you most likely will need to do it too singly and most cer-tainly not like me But hey If I can do it so can you It is only when you add a whole bunch of them in a big glob - like I did - that things turn a little dicey But then thatrsquos where that fabulous D-Link Tech Support enters the picture to save the day So ldquoLive a Littlerdquo

My Home (P2P) Network graphic (Home (P2P) Network diagram in Part 4 Section 1) truly stands ldquoTall


in the Saddlerdquo and clearly reflects a fabulous prized highly desired ldquoHome Networkrdquo setup - I truly believe and Irsquom not done yet Well Almost Every time I go to some conference (the annual CESAPCUG conference for instance) I see Incredible new ldquoStuffrdquo popping up all over the place - and one simply has to ldquoKeep up with the Jonesrsquo doesnrsquot one I absolutely enjoy those excursions immensely and subsequently being in-troduced to all those new products that I can ultimately write about and conse-quently bring to your computer screen via these Blue Chips Magazine reviews Hey Itrsquos a ldquotough life and someonersquos got to do itrdquo so why not me -

As mentioned in Part 3 of the reviews all the pieces of the puzzle finally fell right into place for me in do-ing these D-Link reviews starting with the ldquosplattered puzzlerdquo in Part 1 of the reviews and ending up here all put together so proudly

A Hasty (CYA) Disclaimer Might Be in order Here For those who havenrsquot already figured it out by now the young lady in the graphics (See Part 1 of the reviews (ie puzzle ldquosplatteredrdquo all over the place) Part 2 of the reviews (ie a piece is ldquoclearlyrdquo missing) Part 3 of the reviews (ie ldquomissing piecerdquo found) and now Part 4 of the re-views (ie the ldquofinishedrdquo puzzle merely for effect again - ) depicted in all these reviews is clearly intended to merely show a crossword ldquopuzzlerdquo - in my case my Home (P2P) Network puzzle - in the different states of being assembled thatrsquos all Ahem Well at least that was its intent anyway Besides a picture is worth a 1000 words they say Bye

Oh And FinallyYou should never not ever face

anything like the problems I always seem to encounter (said brought on myself) - ldquoHeaven help you if you ever dordquo To repeat what I have writ-ten these last four (4) months all the D-Link equipment worked like the proverbial ldquoCharmrdquo But ldquoI say againrdquo (thatrsquos pilot talk) if ever needed help is always there at D-Link 24x7 - you can bank on that

Time and again Irsquove preached my ldquoBylinerdquo throughout these review pages (ad nauseam) ldquoHappiness will forever be a working computerrdquo ldquoWell therersquos definitely ldquoGenuine Happinessrdquo in a working D-Link ldquoWirelessrdquo Network in our house-hold tonightrdquo Viva la D-Link

Finally AgainIt goes without saying itrsquos been a

ton of fun doing these four (4) D-Link reviews in succession - once again Be-side the fun of doing them Irsquove learned so very much this time around about building Home (P2P) Networks I really am extremely grateful to D-Link in so veryvery many ways for all those mag-nificent ldquoWirelessrdquo networking products they have allowed me to review - and truly enjoy all these years - more than you can ever know I sincerely hope that you will ldquogive all of their marvel-ous products a tryrdquo and get that same distinct pleasure intense satisfaction and fabulous enjoyment Irsquove been given

Since WiFirsquos ldquovirtuallyrdquo everywhere you go yoursquoll be awfully glad you did I most definitely am

Ciao

by them all along the way


Meeting Memoranda

The meeting was convened by Presi-dent Stuart Gygi

It was announced that the general meetings for Sept and Oct would be held at the Engineering and Mines Classroom Bldg The Olpin Union Bldg Theatre will not be available to us dur-ing those months The meeting place will return to the Olpin Union Bldg in November

Because of problems found with the computer to be auctioned tonight it was decided to delay the auction until the Sep meeting

Open Access

Jared Motogawa described a prob-lem accessing a network printer from his machine that he had to rebuild after a hard drive crash The printer was acces-sible before the crash It is currently ac-cessible from his fatherrsquos machine The printer is attached to another computer and shared over the network through a wireless router He has updated his BIOS to the latest version obtained the latest drivers and installed them He has reinstalled the printer checked cables and removed all security software He has even swapped out all hardware that he possibly can He can connect the printer locally to his machine through a parallel cable and it works There is a problem with workgroup operation Don Nendell suggested talking to D-LINK tech support for help with the router

Leroy Johnson asked about how to dispose of obsolete computer equip-ment Some suggestions were a recycling event hazardous waste facilities Some dealers will dispose of the equipment for you Some may charge for the disposal

Presentation

Quintin Foster a former Xerox engineer and a volunteer teacher at the Mount Olympus Senior Center with Lowell Kennedy presented Acronis True Image True image is a backup system for the PC produced by Acronis (see wwwacroniscom) The company

provides data backup and disk manage-ment software for home users and for businesses

Quintin described how he came to begin using True Image He and Lowell had to rebuild the OS on systems at the senior center on a regular basis This was about an eight hour job so he began looking for image software to backup the OS and other software after it was built True Image was recommended by Ron Messick (Messick Computers) so after doing some research on it and Ghost he decided to try True Image After experimenting at the senior center and at home he fi nally found the courage to restore his own home system from an image he had made The restore was successful and he was delighted

He found the software easy to use Backing up is trivial and restoring is almost the same After installing the software you create a bootable CD from which you can boot Although you can run a restore under Windows if Windows is defective you will want to boot from the CD which will startup True Image without having to start Windows It will see your fi le system just as Windows does so you can locate your backup image and restore it True Image will also backup and restore over your local network

The essential test of True Image came when one of the senior center staff reported she couldnrsquot access the data on her computer The senior center computer guru tried a whole day to get the system working without success Quintin booted True Image backed up her data to a network computer and restored it after restoring the OS It was a much quicker process and was suc-cessful This led Quintin and Lowell to begin using True Image on all machines beginning with several new computers purchased recently

They had been working with version 9 of True Image and purchased some copies of version 10 They encountered a problem booting the restore CD on the

new computers which were Dell Dimen-sion systems Acronis was eventually able to fi x the problem Quintin reported that Acronis Tech Support is great They worked with him on a temporary fi x and then released a permanent fi x in an up-date The new True Image worked fi ne

Quintin made a plug for Gene Barlowrsquos scheme for portioning putting the OS and programs on a different drive than data This fi ts well with True Image which allows you to plug in the backup image of a drive as a Windows virtual drive and then restore individual fi les or folders This only works if your backup is of the whole partition

Another bug Quintin found in Ver-sion 10 of True Image involved restoring when the backup is just some fi les and folders The restore didnrsquot always work It would seem to choose randomly which files and folders selected for restore were actually restored He reported the problem to Acronis some months ago and worked with them supplying data and screen shots until they were able to verify the problem They still have not been able to fi x the problem as of the day of this meeting This problem does not exist in version 9

Quintin discussed some things he considers constraints of Acronis although not everyone might consider them such He recognized that these same constraints might be found in any piece of backup software He mentioned the ability to only plug full partition backups and recover individual folder or fi les Another constraint is the need to keep your backups up-to-date as you install Windows updates and new soft-ware His recommendation is restore the last image install any required Windows updates install any new software and then make another backup

An alternative is to do an incremen-tal backup This approach saves only the things that have changed The image fi le will be much smaller than a full image With incremental backups to restore a damaged partition you have to restore

August 8 2007


the full image and then each incremental backup in order This can take some time if you have many incremental backups Additionally each backup has to be good to fully restore your system Another alternative is the differential backup This backup saves all changes since the last full image backup The backup fi les are larger but you only require two fi les to be good to restore your system Gene Barlow doesnrsquot recommend the differ-ential approach His argument is based on the idea that you should delete each differential backup image as a new one is built Otherwise you use excessive space on your backup drive Also restore time is not much greater with the incremental approach Genes approach is that you make a full image backup each month and incremental or differential backups each week Whether you do this or not depends on you frequency of change and how much backup space you have I see no compelling argument for incremental over differential backup

Quintin does recommend Gene Barlowrsquos backup approach of portioning a hard drive into two partitions one for the OS and programs and another for data Backup should be to another inter-nal or external hard drive or to another computer on your network True Image can make a Secure Zone on the C drive for backups It is like another partition but this approach doesnrsquot protect against hard drive failure Backing up to another hard drive is much safer

Questions

The fi rst question concerned back-ing up over a network All that is re-quired is to enable fi le sharing on the computer holding the backup drive (Workgroup confi guration) True Image should be able to fi nd all drives on the network that are shared

A question was raised about using USB or wireless keyboards and mice If True Image reboots they might not be active yet Quintin had not encountered the problem This should only occur dur-

ing a restore True Image doesnrsquot reboot after doing a backup but does after a restore The problem was encountered during a mirroring operation James Al-exander said that some BIOS chips have an option to read a USB or Wireless key-board or mouse during boot This must be enabled for the keyboard or mouse to be used during boot Older BIOS chips probably wonrsquot have the feature

Doug Jackson mentioned that the True Image boot disk may not show the same drive letters for you partitions that Windows does Just beware

Jared Motogawa asked about being able to load drivers for special devices such as special controller cards when booting True Image No one new the answer but it seems unlikely that it is possible

All Acronis products are available from Gene Barlow at wwwugrcom He gives user group members a discount Just mention our user group name

Submitted by Stuart Gygi

Even the Blue Oracle Canrsquot Create New

Members Itrsquos up to YOU to Bring

Them to Our Meetings

UCSBoard ofTrustees

CampC BldgRoomN3005

630 pm

Blue Chips mdash Utahrsquos Computer Guide in the 21st Century

Utah Blue Chips CalendarSeptember October 2007

TBA

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline

U of U700pm

James A

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline

Blue Chips Magazine mdash September 2007

trade

RecentInformation

By Cliff Millward Editorcliff mxmissioncom

More Musical ModulationsAllow me some leeway this month One of the great-

est singers who ever lived just died His name is Luciano Pavarotti He was born of humble parents his father was a baker in Modena Italy

He was diagnosed with cancer last year Treatment kept him alive for awhile but he fi nally succumbed Sep-tember 6 at his home in Modena

Many of us remember the highly successful ldquoTree Tenorsrdquo concert that he shared with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras I believe he was the greatest tenor since Enrico Caruso

I remember when I was about fi ve years old stand-ing of my tiptoes straining to put a 78rpm record of Carusorsquos ldquoO Solo Miordquo on my grandfatherrsquos fl oor stand-ing wind-up ldquoVictrolardquo

This has not been a good year for famous musicians The Opera singer Beverly Sills passed away earlier and so did the cello player Mstislav Rostropovich

I guess I am one of the few that appreciated classi-cal music from a very early age I never did appreciate ldquopopularrdquo as much as classical Not bragging just stat-ing fact

Rest in Peace Luciano Pavarotti

Parking Meter UpgradeYoursquoll love thisA New parking meter will allow you to pay by credit

Finegrave

card You can also add extra minutes without having to return to your car

It is called a Photo Violation Meter It allows you to swipe a credit card instead of fumbling around for change

But wait therersquos more It can also call your cell phone when your time is up and give you the option of putting additional minutes on the meter

So far about 300 meters are cur-rently installed in Niagara Falls San Francisco and Vancouver

Beware however -- if you fail to pay the meter will take a pixel picture of your license plate (So much for running out of fi lm)

Theyrsquore Beginning to Notice UsThere are about 78 million baby boomers - roughly

three times more than there are teenagers and 20+ adults Most of them are Internet users who learned their computer skills in the workplace

Sites are being built to capture the attention of this generation of Internet users who have more money and leisure time than those who are younger They are also more loyal than teens and donrsquot fl it from one site to the next

A social network for people who want to stay con-nected with existing friends and family is starting up in Boca Raton Florida It is called VantagePoint Venture Partners Another site will launch in mid-September and is called TBD which stands for ldquoTo Be Determinedrdquo These sites let you post profi les designate friends start and participate in discussions and get expert commen-tary Also many common problems can be discussed such as health family problems etc

Advertising will also be targeted toward older peo-ple such as Humana insurance Fidelity Investments pharmacy chains etc

Happy surfi ng the net on your wheel chair affi xed to a surf board


Blue Chips Magazine

Magazine Staff


Advertising Rates















September Renewals




Hardware Review




































Hardware Review






Get it Got it Good




























































































































Hardware Review















































Ciao



Meeting Memoranda




Open Access



Presentation












August 8 2007




Questions











UCSBoard ofTrustees

CampC BldgRoomN3005

630 pm



TBA

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline

U of U700pm

James A

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline


Blue Chips Magazine

Magazine Staff


Advertising Rates















September Renewals




Hardware Review




































Hardware Review






Get it Got it Good




























































































































Hardware Review















































Ciao



Meeting Memoranda




Open Access



Presentation












August 8 2007




Questions











UCSBoard ofTrustees

CampC BldgRoomN3005

630 pm



TBA

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline

U of U700pm

James A

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline



Hardware Review




































Hardware Review






Get it Got it Good




























































































































Hardware Review















































Ciao



Meeting Memoranda




Open Access



Presentation












August 8 2007




Questions











UCSBoard ofTrustees

CampC BldgRoomN3005

630 pm



TBA

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline

U of U700pm

James A

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline






Get it Got it Good




























































































































Hardware Review















































Ciao



Meeting Memoranda




Open Access



Presentation












August 8 2007




Questions











UCSBoard ofTrustees

CampC BldgRoomN3005

630 pm



TBA

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline

U of U700pm

James A

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline



















































































































Hardware Review















































Ciao



Meeting Memoranda




Open Access



Presentation












August 8 2007




Questions











UCSBoard ofTrustees

CampC BldgRoomN3005

630 pm



TBA

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline

U of U700pm

James A

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline















































Ciao



Meeting Memoranda




Open Access



Presentation












August 8 2007




Questions











UCSBoard ofTrustees

CampC BldgRoomN3005

630 pm



TBA

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline

U of U700pm

James A

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline


Meeting Memoranda




Open Access



Presentation












August 8 2007




Questions











UCSBoard ofTrustees

CampC BldgRoomN3005

630 pm



TBA

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline

U of U700pm

James A

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline




Questions











UCSBoard ofTrustees

CampC BldgRoomN3005

630 pm



TBA

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline

U of U700pm

James A

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline

UCSBoard ofTrustees

CampC BldgRoomN3005

630 pm



TBA

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline

U of U700pm

James A

UBCGeneral Meeting

U of U700 pm

MagazineDeadline

Check Out theD-Link DIR-655 Router & DWA-652 Notebook Adapter starting on Page 4 New Freeware -...

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Transcript of Check Out theD-Link DIR-655 Router & DWA-652 Notebook Adapter starting on Page 4 New Freeware -...