Archive for the ‘Computer’ Category
Beginner’s Guide to Computer Forensics
Introduction
Computer forensics is the practice of collecting, analysing and reporting on digital information in a way that is legally admissible. It can be used in the detection and prevention of crime and in any dispute where evidence is stored digitally. Computer forensics has comparable examination stages to other forensic disciplines and faces similar issues.
About this guide
This guide discusses computer forensics from a neutral perspective. It is not linked to particular legislation or intended to promote a particular company or product and is not written in bias of either law enforcement or commercial computer forensics. It is aimed at a non-technical audience and provides a high-level view of computer forensics. This guide uses the term “computer”, but the concepts apply to any device capable of storing digital information. Where methodologies have been mentioned they are provided as examples only and do not constitute recommendations or advice. Copying and publishing the whole or part of this article is licensed solely under the terms of the Creative Commons – Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 license
Uses of computer forensics
There are few areas of crime or dispute where computer forensics cannot be applied. Law enforcement agencies have been among the earliest and heaviest users of computer forensics and consequently have often been at the forefront of developments in the field. Computers may constitute a ‘scene of a crime’, for example with hacking [ 1] or denial of service attacks [2] or they may hold evidence in the form of emails, internet history, documents or other files relevant to crimes such as murder, kidnap, fraud and drug trafficking. It is not just the content of emails, documents and other files which may be of interest to investigators but also the ‘meta-data’ [3] associated with those files. A computer forensic examination may reveal when a document first appeared on a computer, when it was last edited, when it was last saved or printed and which user carried out these actions.
Choosing the Best Desktop Computer For You
Like a lot of people in the world today, you probably have a specific budget in mind when you buy a desktop computer. You may wonder, though, how to pick out the computer. What size and shape you need and with all the new technology out there, you may be unsure what to get. We are here to help you with this most difficult decision. Read on for some great insight into what to look for when purchasing a great desktop computer.
There are four different types of a PC user. Read below to find out which one you are. This will help you choose the best computer for you and your family.
General purpose user: a general purpose use desktop computer is perfect for those who like to make pictures, edit pictures, play games and surf the net. Depending on what you need a general purpose computer can range in price from $500 to $1500.
Power User: a power user computer is a computer that can be used to make and edit movies and videos. These types of computers also allow you to make digital designs and play mega games. With these computers you will typically need 2 or more hard drives and a great graphics card. These computers typically run higher in price due to the power behind the computer and the different running systems that it will include. A power user computer can range in price from $2500 to $3500 depending on what you will need to perform the types of work that you want to do on this computer.
Security, Malware, And Your Computer
Computers are practically in every aspect of our lives these days and our reliance on them is heavy. They are used as tools for work, data storage, schoolwork, shopping, and entertainment. Because so much information is typically stored on our computers we must always make sure they are protected from that loss of information. Businesses have to secure information on their computers to protect it from exploitation by hackers. And the home computer user is no exception to the requirement to protect computer information because there can be credit card numbers, social security numbers, and other sensitive personal information stored on their computer or transmitted when doing online shopping. There is a term used for this and it is “computer security risk.” This term refers to the likelihood that some action could cause the loss of information, computer hardware, or denial of service.
When computer security is put at risk intentionally, it becomes criminal in nature or we call this a computer crime. Another relative of the computer crime is the cybercrime. The FBI pays especially close attention to cybercrimes and there are other types of crimes related to them such as corporate spying, unethical computer activity, cyberterrorism, hacking, cracking, and cyberextortion.
Hacking at one time had a positive meaning to it but since computer crimes were introduced, it falls in the bucket with the rest of them. The hacker is the person who gains access to a computer network illegally. They sometimes use the excuse that they were only trying to break a network’s security so as to make the administrator aware of any security deficiencies.
History of the Computer – Computers and Technology
The volume and use of computers in the world are so great, they have become difficult to ignore anymore. Computers appear to us in so many ways that many times, we fail to see them as they actually are. People associated with a computer when they purchased their morning coffee at the vending machine. As they drove themselves to work, the traffic lights that so often hampered us are controlled by computers in an attempt to speed the journey. Accept it or not, the computer has invaded our life.
The origins and roots of computers started out as many other inventions and technologies have in the past. They evolved from a relatively simple idea or plan designed to help perform functions easier and quicker. The first basic type of computers were designed to do just that; compute!. They performed basic math functions such as multiplication and division and displayed the results in a variety of methods. Some computers displayed results in a binary representation of electronic lamps. Binary denotes using only ones and zeros thus, lit lamps represented ones and unlit lamps represented zeros. The irony of this is that people needed to perform another mathematical function to translate binary to decimal to make it readable to the user.
One of the first computers was called ENIAC. It was a huge, monstrous size nearly that of a standard railroad car. It contained electronic tubes, heavy gauge wiring, angle-iron, and knife switches just to name a few of the components. It has become difficult to believe that computers have evolved into suitcase sized micro-computers of the 1990′s.
The History of the Computer
As man evolved into a more intelligent being, the storage of information became more important to him in order for this life to be more rewarding.
Modern information technology would be just a coined phase if it were not for the invention of the computer. The computer as we know it is an electronic machine that processes data via a set of instructions, to perform a specific task and store and recall information at the touch of a button. It can be fun, especially with all the exciting features and games on it. It also helps, in many ways, to solve complex problems on its own. It is used in almost everything we do, for commercial, medical, science, the arts and personal uses.
The abacus was the most popular manual calculating device in the world. It is a mechanised pebble counter, the squire like structure has on beads strung on wires, and the beads are slid along the wires when counting or adding. The Abacus dates back over two thousand years. And it is still being used by some parts of the world today. The storage of information in that time era was evolving into a more efficient system as the business world was growing rapidly.
In 1944 the first computer hardware was born, which was known as the Mark 1. It was power off vacuum tubes and consume a lot of energy, especial been very large in size.
The second generation of computers was ushered in by the invention of the transistor. This was from 1959 to 1964. The development of the integrated circuits in 1963 “ruled the roost” until 1975 where they made further advancement by placing the entire circuit on silicon chip along with other computer components.
Advancement in computer technology