“World's Most Complete Neighborpedia”
Sponsor a Community — What is Localism? | Register or Sign In
Explore:   What's happening in your neck of the woods?
HomeGeorgiaFulton CountyAlpharetta

Alpharetta, GA

Blog_tag

Password Protection: How to Create and access Strong Passwords

09-08-10
Ted J Macy
Ted J Macy: Real Estate Agent in Alpharetta, GA
  • view my blog
  • Office: (770) 992-2300
  • Mobile: (678) 412-5906

The other day I received my daily email from PC Magazine (online version) that had a very interesting article written by Eric Griffith about how to create strong passwords, how to remember them and most important was not to use the same password for everything. The same thing goes for usercodes. If a hacker figures out what usercode and password you are using, they now have access to all of your accounts, can easily run up hundreds if not thousands of dollars on your credit cards and may cause you identity theft problems.

We all have a bunch of usercodes and passwords for all of the different sites we log into daily, bank accounts, MLS systems, Social Media sites, credit cards, email accounts, online accounts of all sorts. How about getting the current balance on you Skymile account? Usercode and Password required. Same for Air Tran, American Airlines, Yahoo IM, Google account(s) and just about anything online you can think of.

We ran into this problem a couple of years ago when staff had to have access to come accounts and not others, our solution was SecureSafe Pro a nicely packaged program that allows you an unlimited number of passwords as well as multiple files to store them in, so you can safely store all usercodes and passwords, credit card data, personal files like PDF's of passports, medical records, birth certificates and many more, and only have to remember one password, the one that accesses SecureSafe Pro.

All data stored in SecureSafe Pro files is encrypted using military level encryption, so cracking the code is almost impossible, and you can keep everything on a thumb drive so access from a public computer is secure. You create the identifier for each place you do, provide information like Usercode, password, URL and there is a place for notes about this site. You can share a Password file among users by placing it on a shared drive, so there is only one place to update, if necessary.

Check it out, I think you will like it.

By the way the cost is a one time charge, we have been using the software for about 5 years now, even has a password generator that can create a password like 81--J0`ktW*[6AyA6<b3 or lQdL8ne1mjj8NfKDjq6J.

The URL to the article in PC Magazine is http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2368484,00.asp

0 Comments
Blog_tag

Life After Your Old Computers Passes Away

09-06-10
Ted J Macy
Ted J Macy: Real Estate Agent in Alpharetta, GA
  • view my blog
  • Office: (770) 992-2300
  • Mobile: (678) 412-5906

Is your computer "too old" and you are thinking of purchasing a new one! What is "too old"?? My desktop, that my son built for me around 2002, just passed away. One day it rebooted itself, then began making sounds similar to those European Police vehicles and would not boot. Upon further investigation, I found out that the "Mother Board" was gone, seems some of the "Capacitors" had given up the ghost. I had been planning on replacing the old work horse so I had already purchased another machine and was in the process of loading new software, then the "Old Girl Died".

My Challenge is, what data do I need to move over to the new machine? I thought I had everything under control until I went to the Internet Browser, on the new machine, and clicked on "favorites". I had forgotten to move those over, so now I have to find them, and get them moved. Can't use the "old girl" ‘cause' she is broken, Opening up the new one is a pain, and I don't want to be down that long.

Anyway, the reason I began this rambling, is to remind you that when you trade computers, what do you do with the old one? Give it to someone? What about all of that personal data that is still on the disk drive(s)? Just deleting it does not remove it from the drive, it is easily recovered and then it can be used to "Steal your Identity". There are the cookies, the favorites, the "remembered user code and password" we all use them as a convenience, and they are stored in the wild (plain language, readable on the hard drive) for someone who wants them to find them.

The only way to delete all of this data is to overwrite each segment several times. There are special programs that can delete this data, it just takes a lot of time. So, before you give up that old computer, be use you use a good "professional disk cleaning" software to delete your Internet browser's cache, cookies, history, e-mail contacts and messages, documents, recycle or trash folders and nontransferable software. Be sure that the utility overwrites every character multiple times with different data. (All computers use 0 & 1's to store data, the really good erase software writes specialized random patterns over all the data and repeats this process from 3 to 7 times.) Before getting any ERASE software, be sure to read all of the comments made by users. Some of the old programs have been updated and may not perform as well as the older versions did, be sure to read the comments and make up your own mind before getting one. Many of these programs are FREE.

As a last resort, you can always open up the drive and smash all the platters into small pieces and then scatter them over a large body of water. This method may be Effective yet not very ecological.

7 Comments
Blog_tag

Transforming unused Basement Space into a Workout Room

09-06-10
Ted J Macy
Ted J Macy: Real Estate Agent in Alpharetta, GA
  • view my blog
  • Office: (770) 992-2300
  • Mobile: (678) 412-5906

As a Real Estate Agent, you are always looking for ways to maximize your time and minimize the costs. So when it comes to a home gym, here is an idea that may excite your.

You have cleaned out the basement and decided to create a Workout Room. You locate a corner that seem to work and you want some privacy,Corrguated Walls so how do you accomplish this without breaking the bank?? Think outside the box. In our workout room, two of the walls are painted concrete, I just filled in the holes in the foundation wall with light weight drywall patch, goes in easily, dries quickly and you can smooth it will a flexible drywall knife. After covering and smoothing all of the holes and blemishes in the concrete, I applied a couple of coats of DRYLOK with a roller, and then a Painted Utility Pipescouple of coats of interior paint.

The interior studded walls were then covered with Fabral 2-1/2 in . Corrugated Utility 26 in. x 8 Ft. from Home Depot or if there is a Lowes store close by then check out Fabral 12' Galvanized Steel Corrugated Roof Panel.

These make great coverings for walls. For the ceilings I got rolls of Reflectix 4 ft. x 25 ft. Double Reflective Insulation from Home Depot Reflective Ceilingand stapled it to the ceiling. Easy to work with and you can seal the edges with some metal tape that is used around ducts for heating. Cut out around the light fixtures is easy, use either a utility knife or scissors, a straight edge is helpful/ If there are any pipe in the space, paint them, I used a gray paint to paint the sewer pip es and gas lines that ran in the room.

Before covering the floors, I applied a coat of DryLok as well as a coat of exterior concrete and deck paint just to seal out as much moisture as possible. We got some carpet Concrete Wallsruminants and an insulated pad for the flooring in the room. Equipment was then placed around the room, The carpeting and deluxe padding not only protect the floor, it protects any equipment that might slip out of your hand.

0 Comments
Blog_tag

Stitching pictures to create a Panorama

09-03-10
Ted J Macy
Ted J Macy: Real Estate Agent in Alpharetta, GA
  • view my blog
  • Office: (770) 992-2300
  • Mobile: (678) 412-5906

Tripod & Camera SetupNow that you have your Tripod, a good DLSR camera and hopefully a good "head" for the Tripod, let's look at what is involved in creating a Panorama shot of the Front of the house. What you may want to do is create a 360º panorama photo of what the view from the curb is of the property you are featuring. There are a couple of ways of accomplishing this:

You could purchase a "fish eye" lens for the camera, set it up on the tripod with a delayed shot, and run for cover, so you won't be in the photo, or just duck down low so the camera lens can't see you.

You could get one of those 190º lenses, set it on the Tripod, take one picture facing the home, then turn the camera 180º and take another photo and the stitch these two images together

Both of these require special lens that can cost a bundle (in the range of $800 or more), and then you may have to stitch the two halves together although they usually provide some software to accomplish this.

Another way is to mount your DSLR camera vertically on a tripod head that will rotate and then take 8 to 12 photos, turning the camera a portion of the circle (45º for 8 photos or 30º for 12 photos) after each photo and then stitch those 8 or 12 photos together. Remember that in order for the stitching software to work correctly, there has to be at least a 20% overlap of each photo. I have found that 12 photos create a very good panoramic photo without losing a lot of the vertical detail. I have some stitching software form Anything 3D, additionally I have used the software provided by the Virtual Tour Company to stitch together the photos and recently, our MLS provider in Atlanta has provided software to stitch together a series of photographs into one panoramic photo.

After creating your 360º panoramic photo, you might use it as an introduction for the property.

Remember, the better the photos are the easier you it is to sell your listing online, where 90% + of today's home buyers begin the search.

Check for future posts on using your Camera as a Real Estate Tool.

6 Comments
Blog_tag

Why use a Tripod when taking Home Pictures?

09-02-10
Ted J Macy
Ted J Macy: Real Estate Agent in Alpharetta, GA
  • view my blog
  • Office: (770) 992-2300
  • Mobile: (678) 412-5906

As a Real Estate Agent, if you like to take lots of pictures especially Interior Photos be sure to use a Good Tripod. Using a Tripod serves several different purposes:Tripod

•1) You can take the photo several times, from exactly the same place.

•2) You can be certain that your picture is level. Sometimes it is challenging to determine if the picture is level when looking through the viewfinder. On the Tripod, you know it is level.

•3) If you need to take several pictures and stitch them together, using a tripod and a rotating platform is the best way. Check out the software at Anything 3D. At one time they sold hardware that attaches your camera to the tripod and allows you to rotate the camera, take photos and then use their software to stitching them together in a panorama. When I check the website, they no longer offered this product, however, check with their Tech Support for where you can purchase it.Tripod with anything 3D Head

•4) If you want some interesting photos and you use a DSLR camera, you can change to Manual Mode and create some interesting photos.

•5) You have better control of how the picture might turn out in various lighting conditions. Using a tripod gives you the ability to use different lighting conditions and take the exact photo for comparison.

Note that there are lots of tripods on the market, expect to pay over $100 for a substantial, professional tripod. Those that cost $30, $40, or $50 are not what you want to use, they are not stable enough to get a professional looking job. I use a Manfrotto tripod with a build in leveling bubble. Check out their website for more details, or look in your favorite camera store.

4 Comments