… the F6 blog

I have a lot of passwords. I can’t count them anymore but, considering I have a double-digit number of email accounts, I’d say I probably have double-digit numbers of passwords, too.

For a lot of people, when they have a lot of passwords, or even when they don’t have many, their first temptation is to have just one, simple password that works for all their accounts. It sounds like a good idea but, it can backfire. If someone discovers one of those passwords, it’s not difficult to try to use that password elsewhere on your accounts. And, unless you keep a log of when you log into an account and check that account for login records, it’s unlikely you’ll know when someone does try to use your account, successfully or otherwise.

Even worse, you may use a ridiculously simple password. We all should know the basics of a good password.

• at least eight characters long … longer is probably better
• nothing in your password based on simple dictionary words … phrases that mean something to you but no one else are a good start
• a mix of lowercase and capital letters, maybe even punctuation marks thrown in, if the account allows them
• at leats one or two numbers mixed in … and, no, the number shouldn’t be just at the beginning or end of the password

Researchers from data protection firm Imperva analyzed password practices from millions of users based upon a security breach at social application site RockYou and found that the most common (and insecure) password is (drum roll, please): “123456″

Similar other analysis of email passwords had “123456″ top their list of most common passwords, too.

It’s disappointing that, with today’s newsbites of online security breaches, some of us still use easy-to-crack passwords. Granted, this analysis is limited to just one site and many probably don’t consider their social applications to be mission critical, but it’s important to get into the habit of protecting privacy as much as possible and a lot of it starts with passwords. You may not feel your Facebook account is mission critical but you’ll still feel angry if your account with an insecure password gets hacked because your password is “123456.” And, at the same time, sites that contain personal information need to start enforcing better passwords or, at minimum, posting a big notice if you happen to choose an insecure password.

By the way, the second most common password in the Imperva analysis is “12345.” “123456789″ came in third, and “Password” came in fourth. “iloveyou” was fifth.

Every year, as we all go out an celebrate the holidays, we also go on the hunt for great deals on the gifts we want. Unfortunately, some not-so-level businesses do the same and customers are the gifts and scams are the deals.

One very popular and growing scam is the online checkout page that offers you a coupon or other incentive if you provide your email address. Sounds like a pretty good deal except that your signing up not only gives the marketing firm your email address but, in some cases, it may lead to a regular monthly charge for a product you didn’t even want.

The product could be a magazine or access to some online service. A report indicates that the firm handling customer support for these services show a 90 percent rate of calls to cancel products or services the customers claim they never purchased.

To be fair, “scams” may be the wrong term. Technically, these aren’t scams … the marketing firms claim there is adequate disclosure details on the offer available before the customer clicks on the big Yes button. You can see some of their responses in this article.

So, as you shop online this holiday season, make sure you read all the fine print before you agree to anything. And, if you disagree with a disclosure, or lack of it, don’t hesitate to let the retailer know.

When you chase storms, as I used to, you need to bring along a good bit of technology to keep the chase going. Sure, you can drive around all day and figure out where the storms may erupt, but having the right technology makes it easier to find, spot, and warn about impending storms.

My first storm chase, I brought just a video camera. We used paper maps and prayers. After that experience, I learned a few things.

• your paper maps are gonna’ get wet
• there’s a whole lot of roads to get lost on
• hail really hurts when it hits you

So, the next time, I went and got some new toys. Justifying everything as a “purchase to ensure safety” I brought along enough that I spent almost 20 min at airport security turning on things to ensure they really did what they did.

• ultraportable laptop: I brought along an ultraportable laptop loaded with mapping software to replace the paper maps from the first time
• GPS: I used a USB-connected DeLorme GPS device to work with the mapping software (also from DeLorme). I have to say that this was a huge benefit. Knowing exactly where we were and where to go to get away from trouble helped … a lot.
• cellular data modem: I actually used my cell phone connected to my laptop via USB to connect and download satellite data from the National Weather Service. Having those maps also proved enormously helpful. I don’t know what we did without that data.

We also used a wi-fi card and, with the generous permission of the various retail and hotel establishments we encountered, viewed storm data in those cases when we couldn’t get a decent cell signal. (Sprint appears to have way better coverage in the midwestern states and Verizon Wireless does.)

Today I realized that, if I were to go storm chasing tomorrow like I did in days past, everything I need would already be built into my laptop: wifi, GPS, cellular modem … even the video camera. The mess of cables I had last year wouldn’t be a problem. Sometimes tech integration amazes me more than I think.

On October 22, 2009, the latest version of Microsoft Windows, Windows 7, ships for general availability. “General availability” means that computer makers can ship new computers with Windows 7. That’s also the date that the boxed version of Windows 7 goes for sale in stores, for those that want add or upgrade Windows 7 to their computer.

Why does this matter to the small business? Because, beginning October 22, those small businesses that typically buy all their computers from a retail store (or even most online stores) will find it very hard to purchase a computer with any version of Windows but Windows 7. Businesses with existing computers probably have Windows XP and Windows Vista around. Now they’ll also have Windows 7 and now they’ll need to support three versions of Windows.

Windows Vista was a tough release for Microsoft, and they know it. Windows 7 shows improvement but it’s still different enough from both Vista and XP that many support resolutions will be different depending on the version in use. Rebuilding procedures can be different and then there’s always compatibility.

I’ve been using a pre-release version of Windows 7 for some time now and can say that I like it better than Windows Vista, which is what I used before. Compatibility is very good, with only a few applications not working well. (In one case, spectacularly not well, but that may be a factor of the pre-release status of the operating system, and not the application. I’m still checking.)

Before purchasing equipment with Windows 7, check with the software applications you use to make sure they support Windows 7. Some vendors have updated versions or patches to ensure compatibility with Windows 7. Best to check and download the updates before you find out the hard way.

If you purchase new equipment with Windows 7 and don’t want to use it, you may want to consider asking about downgrade rights, which allow you to downgrade the version of Windows you purchased to a previous version, either Vista or XP, for free. Downgrade rights typically only apply to the Ultimate and Professional flavors of Windows. Microsoft hasn’t said if it will offer this option, but some report that it will.

If you like Windows 7, you could consider upgrading your old computers to Windows 7. If you decide to go this route, it’s important to note that you can’t actually upgrade a Windows XP computer: you need to save your data, wipe the computer clean, and install Windows 7 from scratch. This isn’t the case for Windows Vista.

What are your plans for Windows 7 and do you have concerns about using it in your business?

Most know what web hosting is and does. For those that don’t, web hosting is what you have when you put your website on a server somewhere. That somewhere can be in your basement but, more often than not for small businesses, that somewhere is with a web hosting company that owns the server where your website sits.

You put your website files on that server. Sometimes you type your site content into an online editor but, usually, you create the files on your computer and put them on the server. You use the same process when you type in your latest blog entry or post a video on YouTube. But, whatever the case, your content isn’t on your computer.

Hosting is convenient and simple to access. The server is always there and you don’t have to necessarily be at your computer to get to the files. Now what if you could put content besides videos, blogs, or websites on these servers? You could put your documents, spreadsheets, presentations, sales data … a lot of the content your business uses every day. Now what if you could not only store those files but create and edit them, too, right from your Internet-connected computer?

That’s the concept of cloud computing. The idea is you would work through just your web browser and create and edit all the content you need for your life or your business. Instead of using Microsoft Word on your computer, you’d use an online document editor like Yahoo! Zoho, Google Docs, or Adobe Buzzword. These applications work within your web browser and let you create, manage, share, and store your documents on that company’s servers, ready for you to access with a web browser whenever you or someone you designate want.

That’s perhaps, for small business, one of the attractions of cloud computing: the ability to share your documents with others without having to email them back and forth. The email method of sharing files is the Internet-connected version of “sneakernet,” which is what you have when people used to share documents by constantly putting files on floppy disks or CDs and manually running them over to the other person. It was tedious and you never knew if you had the latest version. Today, years later, we still have the same problem with sneakernet for email.

But, cloud computing isn’t for everyone. For one thing, you have to carefully read the terms of usage. Make sure that you own the content you create and not the cloud computing company. Make sure you know how your data is used … is your usage information aggregated for use in research or, even worse, sold?

Also be careful to whom you give access. Just because you intended to give someone access temporarily doesn’t mean that the person will graciously stop accessing your documents when you say so. Make sure you keep up with whom you give these documents and remove access privileges as necessary.

Next, make sure you change your password for the service every now and then. We’ve all heard how important it is to change passwords so I won’t go further.

Finally, remember you’ll need an Internet connection, usually a fast one, to use these services and do something as simple as get a file you wrote yesterday. If you’re on the road often with no network connection, cloud computing may not be for you.