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Volunteers donate time, money to get WiFi at Bridgewater library
// May 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
Mike Aucoin answered the phone in his Bedford Street computer sales and repair shop.
The woman was calling Charlie’s Computers looking for a cost estimate on setting up a building for wireless Internet, or WiFi access.
For anyone else, the work Aucoin did would have cost about $1,000. But this caller wasn’t anyone else.
It was Mary O’Connell, associate director of the town’s struggling public library, which has weathered years of cuts to services, staff and hours — losing its certification and operating 18 hours a week with a skeleton staff.
O’Connell wasn’t looking for a handout, but Aucoin did the job for nothing, along with other volunteers who paved the way for free WiFi at the library to go live last Thursday.
“It’s really unfortunate what’s going on, so the last thing I want here is for it to have gotten worse,” said Aucoin, who owns Charlie’s. “I wanted to help them out.”
A local electrician, William Burden, donated his services to help wire the building, O’Connell said. Money raised by the Friends of the Bridgewater Public Library helped purchase equipment.
“We really did not have the money to provide this,” O’Connell said. “We’re thrilled to be able to compete with the cafes.”
Thanks to a series of “access points” installed in the ceiling — devices that magnify the wireless signal — anyone with a laptop or handheld computer should be able to use the Internet throughout the building, Aucoin said.
And if you can’t make it to the library the scant four days it’s open, good news — the signal is strong enough to work even from a short distance away outside.
Although the library received eight new computers last year, O’Connell said she hoped WiFi would attract some new library users and accommodate those who come there to work using their laptop computers.
“We’ve had a lot of people come for the past five or six years asking for WiFi,” she said.
Bridgewater’s library has been struggling since 2007, when the town nearly halved its library budget for the next fiscal year.
Ten people were laid off, all programming was eliminated and all positions were reduced to part-time. Hours of operation plummeted from 63 to 15 per week.
In February 2008, the state decertified the library because of insufficient funding. Since then, residents have not been able to borrow or reserve materials from nearly every other library in the region.
Staff and trustees were able to return to 23 hours per week, but midyear budget cuts forced them to limit it to 18 hours per week.
O’Connell said if this year’s proposed budget passes, there is “a distinct possibility” the library’s hours will recede back to 15 per week.
Jessica Scarpati can be reached at jscarpati@enterprisenews.com.
Source: http://www.enterprisenews.com
(Note: Changed incorrect spelling of last name from Aucion to Aucoin)
What is Badware?
// April 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // Virus News
Badware is software that fundamentally disregards a user’s choice regarding how his or her computer will be used. You may have heard of some types of badware, such as spyware, malware, or deceptive adware. Common examples of badware include free screensavers that surreptitiously generate advertisements, malicious web browser toolbars that take your browser to different pages than the ones you expect, or keylogger programs that can transmit your personal data to malicious parties.
While some types of badware seem more annoying than dangerous, the consequences of badware infections can be quite harsh. Badware can cause computers to become slow, unresponsive, or even unusable. Personal information gathered by spyware can be abused, and financial or other personal data that falls into the wrong hands can lead to identity theft. Some forms of badware steal resources instead of information, perhaps by adding your computer to a network of hijacked machines called a botnet, that can then use your computer to send spam and phishing emails or even to help distribute more badware.
Badware producers are constantly developing new, creative ways to install badware onto your computer. Badware distribution has been expanded beyond traditional channels like email viruses to harder-to-avoid methods like automated “drive-by downloads” that are launched by compromised web pages.
Badware can be difficult to avoid, especially because it is not always obvious when your machine is affected. Some manufacturers bundle badware with other applications without disclosing that it’s part of the package. You can even be infected with badware simply by visiting a website that has been compromised by attackers; these attackers embed ‘drive-by downloads’ in otherwise legitimate websites, which then silently install applications on your computer, completely without your knowledge or consent. These programs are usually also hidden on your computer, making it difficult to identify and remove them.
Why do badware producers go to the effort of producing harmful software? Badware has become a booming industry, with an estimated annual value of over $2 billion USD. Some badware is produced for outright theft, while other badware is designed to support shady marketing schemes which drive web traffic or product sales. An estimated 59 million Americans currently have spyware or other malicious badware installed on their computers.
Badware production and distribution is only profitable if enough computers can be infected to support the costs and risks associated with developing software that exploits consumers. We hope that by educating users to avoid and remove malicious software, we can help reduce the profitability of badware business models.
Source: http://www.stopbadware.org
