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Dear Tech, Please tell me about cellular modems. I am on the road often and cannot always get to an Internet Café.

Thanks,
Travellin’ Man

Dear Travellin’:

Cellular modems are a practical option for providing you with high speed (more or less) Internet access while away from the office or out on the road. Very simply, a cellular modem provides you with wireless or cellular internet access from your laptop. Based on our collective experience, we vote that Verizon has the best coverage in the New York metropolitan area. To get started go to any Verizon wireless store to purchase the “EVDO Rev A compatible card.” Sometimes the clerk will shorten the name and call it the "rev A compatible." Right now, the least expensive rev A card is the "AirCard® 595". It is $99 for a 2 year contract on verizonwireless.com.

Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data only, abbreviated as EV-DO or EVDO and often EV, is one telecommunications standard for the wireless transmission of data through radio signals, typically for broadband Internet access. It is classified as a broadband technology, because it utilizes a broad band of radio frequencies.

Look for the following features in you EVDO rev A card:

Lights that show when you are in a high speed area; when you are in a low speed area and when you are connected.

Card design without an antenna that leaves as little protruding from the laptop as possible so it doesn't snag on anything

You can consider a card that is compatible with Vista if you are likely to upgrade your laptop in less than 2 years. After two years, you will most likely be getting a new card when your contract expires.

As long as you stay near major cites all the cards have the same data transfer rates. The rates are about 400 - 700 kbps to download with theoretical momentary speeds of up to 2,000 kbps. This is called their "Broadband Access" service. All of the cards support this service. All run at the same speed in these areas. Once you are away from a major city, you will have to rely on a slower backup method of transferring data that they call National Access which works around 70k (in theory.

If you have questions about wireless technology or cellular modem-based connectivity for your business, contact OSI Technologies, Inc. here.

The latest in malware and PC security
Ghost in the Browser

Google recently released a study they called “Ghost in the Browser” that discusses current malware threats to your PC and how to avoid them. According to the study, “drive by download” techniques are now the most popular method of infecting your PC with malware. These drive-bys occur when you go to a web site and without any action or knowledge on your part, unwanted software downloads and installs onto your computer.

Older methods of infecting your PC, such as sending people emails with attachments are falling out of favor due to the increasing awareness of safety issues among computer users. (No one downloads and runs mysterious attachments from strange email anymore…right?)

One driver for this new method of infection has been the runaway popularity of Blogs. A Blog site obviously allows the general public to upload comments. Unscrupulous people now upload comments as well as software that infects your PC when you later connect to that Blog.

Google has begun scanning the Internet for web sites for software downloading code in their pages. If it finds such code, Google will show you a warning that “This site may harm your computer” in the search results. Please do not click on any link thus labeled unless you know the site can be trusted. Here is a sample search result:

Google’s search of the Internet for unsafe sites finds that about 5% of sites have potentially dangerous code. This percentage jumps to over 50% for sites with these words:
Free screensavers
Bearshare
Screensavers
Winmx
Limewire
Lime wire
Free ringtones

Typically, once downloaded, this software takes some of your CPU cycles to do its unwanted tasks such as scanning your PC for data or to relay thousands of spam emails.

If you have questions about malware, SPAM or other security issues, please write to Tech Reporter with your concerns at info@ositechnologies.com.

OSI Fun: Beware of Badware
In addition to the Google warnings on your search results, you can research sites before you visit them. You can also report suspicious sites. For endless fun and entertainment, visit stopbadware.org

Articles are edited by Alex Leone, Chaz Popovich and Scott Schafer of OSI Technologies, Inc.