Anti-viruses and Cyber Crimes

Recently my laptop had to be reformatted as it couldn't be started and the loading process of the start up just kept going in loops. At the same time, virus alerts were popping up on my desktop and I couldn't do access my windows update because the virus was blocking it. So I decided to do the next best thing I could think of. My AVG virus scan and norton anti virus apparently didn't prove to be effective since that stupid virus found a way to feed on my windows update hence I decided to install Bit Defender.

Things were going smoothly at first, since the virus scan did it mojo, sieving out any other viruses and fixing other unforeseen problems but somehow couldn't remove that trecherous virus that was blocking my windows update. Worst of all, Bit Defender was slowing my entire com and didn't let me access my computer games which was what I need desperately to escape my schoolwork and virus headaches. Each window was taking at least 5 minutes to load once clicked on and so now I've uninstalled Bit Defender since in my opinion, letting the virus eat your com is better than waiting for more than an hour just to start your com or sign into MSN.

According to an article by ZDnet Asia, a Symantec Asia-Pacific Internet Security Threat report stated that 'Singapore--with its small population--is ranked second in terms of the level of malicious activity per user, Ng said, adding that Taiwan has the highest level of such activities per user. "That doesn't mean Singapore has a high level of malicious activity," Ng said. He added that the city-state contributes 2 percent to the amount of malicious activity in the region. "It just means that an Internet user in Singapore may be more subjected to malicious activity," he said.'

As everyone knows, Singapore's government would be there to defend the nation and thus in 1993, Singapore passed the Computer Misuse Act (Chapter 50A of the Singapore Statutes), which it has amended four times, as recently as 2005. This Act addresses computer crimes and provides for stiff penalties for the violation of the law. It has applied its existing Penal Code provisions for activities that are deemed cyber crime. For example, the release of a virus would fall under the jurisdiction of the Computer Misuse Act, whereas an economic crime (e.g. extortion or securities fraud) would fall under the aegis of the Penal Code.

All in all, everyone should simply follow the procedures that was shown during Monday's COM125 lecture but keep in mind, you can't have a cake and eat it. Anti-virus programs do come with their limitations.

Google and Windows Movie Maker

Google Earth may be fun and innovative and it allows us to fly the skies and sail the seas to any destination that we desire...but nonetheless it could also be the perfect search scope for terrorists to plan any infalliable attacks.

So I've just installed Google Earth and realised that it even allows me to not only explore the surface of the Earth but under the seas too. In addition to that, we are able to access images of how places used to look like and compare these historical imagery to present times and also study how it has changed over time. Undoubtly, Google Earth has given us insightful knowledge about our world that we probably wouldn't have known about.

Without Google Earth, I might never discover that a place like Upernik existed...or the fact that it's a small town located on the West Coast of Greenland with a population of only 3000.

Besides Google Earth, Google has tons of other useful applications like Google Image, Groups, News, YouTube, and of course Blogger.

This video is a list of top 10 horror films according to ME. [Viewer discretion is advised; so people like Fel, avoid clicking on the play button =) ]

The last time I made a video was probably 5 or more years ago. Making one for this blog certainly brought a sense of nostalgia and it also took me longer than I normally would have taken then since I've grown to be unfamiliar to most of the tools.

For starters, I had to search for pictures to add to my video, limiting myself to 3 pictures per movie and thanks to Google Image, I was easily able to come up with the 30 necessary movie screenshots. Since I already had the music file of the song I had in mind for my video, my work was further simplified as I imported the mp3 into my window movie maker project.

Next, I had to rank the movies in order and then insert the titles into the appropriate parts of the clip. The Storyboard allowed the arrangement to be done easily. Most of the effort went into making sure the clips would fit into the time range of the song and that was easily settled in the 'Timeline' mode of WMM.

Overall, this exercise reminded me of how fun and useful the Windows Movie Maker application is and in terms of user friendliness, I'll probably give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. =)

Authentic Learning and Growth Mindsets

Technology is supposedly meant to aid the growth mindsets and expel fixed mindsets that are so easily dissembled by obstacles...but how exactly is the digital media suppose to help us when we can always escape any setbacks by selecting the magical delete key?


E-learning has never been a favourite option of mine but as the world gets more tech-savvy, moving the classroom to the digital space seems to be an inevitable scenario. Despite the fact that it diminishes physical contact with others, advantages such as convenience and time saving would overrule that factor and it would still be the chosen mode of learning.




This video introduces the aspects of a virtual classroom...better known as the way of our future.





Sadly but surely, our vision would soon no longer extend out of the scope of the square box in front of us.

E-commerce

Like most girls, I thank the genius who coined the term e-commerce and thought of the idea of setting up businesses online. That brought about one of the top favourite female pasttimes - online shopping. Since most of the technical aspects of e-commerce has been already covered in class, I'll delve into successful online shops and how their procedures are conducted.

Just to mention a few notable established sites:

www.americanapparelstore.com/

http://www.asos.com/

And definitely not forgetting one of the most accomplished fashion line...

http://www.victoriassecret.com/

Much like most online stores, Victoria's Secret (VS) catergorises their clothes by type and size to allow an easier search for their customer's desired products.

The steps are simple:
1) Choose your clothes category and size
2) Pick an item and add to shopping bag
3) Choose mode of payment and complete payment form

Voila it's done!

VS goes to a greater extent of customer service as they would offer a few other choices of clothings on every page of a chosen item to suggest items that may match the piece of clothing that a customer has selected. In this way, they have marketed their other products and at the same the customer may be able to enjoy a more complete buy.

After adding an item into the shopping bag, the site also suggests a whole range of clothings that may suit the customer's liking.

At the final payment step, the site provides a summary of the purchase with the collated amount. It also allows the customers to choose their preferred shipping mode and credit card choice.

VS also keeps their customer base regularly updated,allowing them to check the status of any orders, backordered items, returns or exchanges.

To add a more personalized touch, the site allows its users to keep a wish list of items that they are interested in.

And to prove the success of their e-business, I will stand up and admit that I am amongst their huge regular customer base that have fallen prey to their commercial clutches time and again. =X