Please See Facebook For Updates

www.facebook.com/Gravitys-Edge

You may have a virus if you recently visited these major websites

http://fox2now.com/2015/01/08/you-may-have-a-virus-if-you-recently-visited-these-major-websites/

Gravitys Edge Closed Tuesday

Please checkout our Facebook page for more info. Facebook.com/gravitysedge

We will reopen Wednesday, be safe and enjoy the snow!!!

March 3rd 2014 Store Hours

Gravitys Edge will be closed Monday due to the impending doom!!! If all is clear we will reopen Tuesday! Drive Safe if you have to drive at all!

Comcast web mail servers hacked, all users at risk

Hacking group NullCrew FTS declared today that it had exploited a security flaw in Comcast’s Zimbra webmail server. It’s believed that the group used what is known as a LFI exploit or local file inclusion vulnerability to obtain usernames and passwords of Comcast ISP users.

The hacking group claims it used this exploit to gain access to the Zimbra LDAP and MySQL database which house the user accounts and passwords. The group posted earlier on pastebin.com a list of what they gained access to, but with no usernames or passwords listed. The posting has since been removed by pastebin.

Every Comcast ISP user has a master account, which is accessible through their Zimbra webmail site. This account can be used to access your payment information, e-mail settings, user account creation and services you purchase from Comcast. Even if you do not use their mail service, you still will have a master account. It is strongly recommended that, if you are a Comcast user, you change your password as soon as possible. 

Comcast performed out-of-schedule maintenance on their mail servers last night, hopefully to fix this exploit. No more information is available at this time on what maintenance was performed.

http://www.neowin.net/news/comcast-web-mail-servers-hacked-all-users-at-risk

Microsoft: Over two million PCs in the U.S. part of a botnet

The BBC points us to a rather lengthy 240 page report, published by Microsoft, called the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report. Microsoft collected data throughout the first half of this year and found that the United States has the highest number of computers infected with a virus that places them into a botnet.

Read More...

The 17 Most Dangerous Places on the Web

The scariest sites on the Net? They're not the ones you might suspect. Here's what to watch for and how to stay safe.

Read More...

How to report ID theft, fraud, drive-by installs, hijacking and malware?

How to report ID theft, fraud, drive-by installs, hijacking and malware?
This FAQ is organized into 4 sections:
A. How do I respond to possible identity theft, or to someone stealing my credit card or bank account number?
B. How do I report Internet fraud, drive-by installs, hijacking, viruses, malware, theft of computer services or theft of telecommunications services?
C. How do I prevent identify theft and Internet fraud?
D. Other links
E. Phishing email

Read More...

AVG Research Discovers 1.2 Million Computers Infected by Cybercriminals Using Eleonore Exploits Toolkit

AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AVG Technologies, makers of the world’s most popular free anti-virus software, today announced that AVG’s Web security research team has discovered a network of 1.2 million malware-infected computers controlled by cybercriminals who were using the Eleonore exploit toolkit – a commercial attack software enabling cybercriminals to infect and monitor compromised PCs.

Read More....

Apple software has the most holes

A new report from security software provider Secunia shows that despite considerable security investments, the software industry at large is unable to produce software with substantially fewer vulnerabilities.

Read More...

Dell replaces server parts infected with virus

BOSTON, July 22 (Reuters) - Dell Inc (DELL.O) is giving customers replacement parts for servers that were infected with a computer virus designed to steal private data.

Read More...

The Anatomy of an E-Mail Hack

How Do E-Mail Viruses Spread? How Should You Protect Yourself?

Read More....

Free apps install spyware on Macs

Mac users downloading free screensavers and a video converter app from several popular download sites also got spyware that installs a back door, collects data, and sends encrypted information to remote servers, security company Intego said on Tuesday.


Read More....

Gravitys Edge Computers NEWS!!!!

Gravitys Edge Computers NEWS!!!!

Gravitys Edge Computers is rolling out a new line of services along with new deals and expanded inventory. We are also excited about our new website that is about to launch, which will offer easy remote support options.

We will be posting details in the next few days, but first a peak at one new service…

Free PC check-up & system analysis:
Bring your computer in for a 24-hour check-up. Drop off and pick up in 24-hours. We will give you a comprehensive analysis, recommending steps needed to make your computer run top-notch!

Better Business Bureau warns of phishing attempt through complaint e-mail

The Better Business Bureau is warning businesses to beware of a new malicious e-mail that pretends to be from the Better Business Bureau about a complaint filed against the company. The e-mail first came to the BBB's attention on April 12.

Read More...

Fake antivirus software is 'growing threat' to computer users, warns Google

Millions of computer users are being duped in to installing software they think will protect them online but actually leaves their computer vulnerable to hackers, a study found.

Read More...

New Computer Virus Masquerades as Antivirus

A latest computer virus masquerades as famous antivirus software in Centennial, Colorado (US) and experts opine that it can cause damage to the hardware and hack system's files. The virus seems to be originating from authentic antivirus programs like Norton and McAfee.

Read More...

iPad users on Windows targeted with malware

Scammers are distributing e-mails designed to trick iPad owners into downloading software that they think is an iTunes update, but which turns out to be malware that opens a back door on the computer, researchers warned on Monday.

Read More...

W32/Wecorl.a, new computer virus discovered

Another computer virus that executes malicious content from a remote server has been generated.
The computer virus is called W32/Wecorl.a. The virus produces Dcom Server Process Launcher Terminated Unexpectedly Error. According to McAfee, W32/Wecorl is a worm that has the capability to multiply by using a Vulnerability in Server Service (ms08-067). The virus can also download and execute malicious content from a remote server, unnoticed. Computer users are advised to be careful on what they download.

Posted by Ria Viente

Zeus keylogger affects Firefox, Internet Explorer users doing online banking

Ooh, this is a nasty one, isn’t it? There’s a computer virus out there called Zeus that targets users engaged in online banking. It affects users running Firefox and Internet Explorer—a fair chunk of all Internet users, then. As always, the best policy here is to keep your wits about you as you browse the Internet.

Read More...

McAfee: The anti-virus that mutated into a "virus"

Whoa! One of my computer was going nuts this morning. Surely this household was not invaded by a computer virus. We keep everything up to date and almost all computers both Mac and PCs have the latest fixes. This one computer though was supposed to be the safest because it was connected via a virtual private network to a company. Someone was supposed to minding the shop for me.

Read more:

McAfee: The anti-virus that mutated into a "virus"

Whoa! One of my computer was going nuts this morning. Surely this household was not invaded by a computer virus. We keep everything up to date and almost all computers both Mac and PCs have the latest fixes. This one computer though was supposed to be the safest because it was connected via a virtual private network to a company. Someone was supposed to minding the shop for me.

Read More...

Google Buys Some of Apple's Former Chip Team

"Google has purchased Agnilux, a secretive chip house made up of engineers who architected the heart of the iPad...

Read More...

Adobe Stops Development For iPhone

"Adobe's principal product manager Mike Chambers announced that Adobe is no longer investing in iPhone-based Flash development. The move comes after Apple put out a new draft of its iPhone developer program license, which banned private APIs and required apps to be written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine. According to Chambers, Adobe will still provide the ability to target the iPhone and iPad in Flash CS5, but the company is not currently planning any additional investments in that feature."

Read More....

Nintendo 3DS Could Borrow 3D Trick From iPhone

How will the newly-announced Nintendo 3DS show 3D graphics without requiring 3D glasses? One solid theory involves cameras (but wouldn't require a new machine). Another, here, involves a motion sensor in a portable, a trick the iPhone already does.

Read More....

McAfee update is locking users out of their systems, do not update!

Widespread reports are hitting the web that McAfee Antivirus update is causing major issues with end users PC’s. Reports are coming in that the “update to Dat 5958” is killing SVCHOST.exe.

As reports are surfacing in our forums and across the web, the issue appears to be widespread and u2_storm is saying that “We have received thousands of reports indicating some issues with McAfee DAT 5958 causing Windows XP SP3 clients to be locked out”. Currently the only possible solution may be to downgrade your client to 5957 and to restore SVChost.exe.

Twitter has been on fire with users reporting everything from being locked completely out of their system to BSODs occurring every time the program is started. At this point, do not upgrade your version of McAfee until the issue is resolved. If you are currently experiencing problems, please let us know in the comments.

Thanks for the tip u2_storm

Virus that steals bank information is on the rise

The BBC is reporting that Zues, a virus that steals your online bank account information is on the rise. Trusteer says of the 5.5 million computers that they monitor, one in 3,000 is infected with the Zues virus.

Zues 1.6 can infect users using both Internet Explorer and Firefox. Once infected the virus records your keystrokes when logging into your banks website. The data is then sent to a remote server where it is used or sold by the cyber gang.

"We expect this new version of Zeus to significantly increase fraud losses, since nearly 30% of internet users bank online with Firefox and the infection is growing faster than we have ever seen before," said Amit Klein, chief technology officer at Trusteer.

In March 2010, parts of the primary control center for the Zeus botnet were taken offline when the Kazakhstani ISP that was being used to administer it was cut off. Unfortunately, though, it is back on the rise as the hackers have started to expand their botnet.


By Brandon Boyce,

PlayOn... Very Cool!

A revolutionary way to easily access thousands of your favorite movies, shows, sports, and more from the Internet, on-demand, on your TV. PlayOn is software you install on your PC. It requires no new equipment, no messy cables to connect, no monthly fees...and oh yeah, no cable subscription. Try PlayOn for free for 14 days and see for yourself why Popular Science Magazine named us as one of the Top 100 New Innovations of the last year and why our customers can't stop raving about us.

Read More...


If you want more information or need help setting-up PlayOn in your home give Gravitys Edge Computers a Call!

Boxee is a home theater social media center...

In short, Boxee is a home theater social media center. But, for many people, that doesn't say much. Boxee is a software program that you install on your computer that allows users to watch internet movies and TV shows, listen to online radio and music, play your local digital music and movies, and much, much more. Boxee is diverse in its functionality, and continues to evolve as developers create new applications to explore the expanse of media on the world wide web.

Read More...

Digital Photocopiers Loaded With Secrets

(CBS) At a warehouse in New Jersey, 6,000 used copy machines sit ready to be sold. CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports almost every one of them holds a secret.

Read More...

Symantec: 51 percent of all malware ever was detected in 2009

It is an absolute miracle that I have never had a virus, trojan, or other form of computer bug on this PC. I mean, if we’re to believe Symantec, then fully 51 percent of the viruses, trojans, and every other form of computer malware ever was spotted in 2009. That means that from 2008 going back to when Symantic first started keeping track of such things, all of those years only make up 49 percent of the viruses and so forth, while 2009 on its own accounts for 51 percent. That’s pure madness.

Read More...

Mac malware disguised as iPhoto

A new variant of a malware program designed to run on the Mac OS has been uncovered.

Read More....

New Security Vulnerability Found on Mac OS X

Security software company Intego released an official memo warning about a new variant of an early vulnerability first found on Mac OS X in 2004 named “OSX/HellRTS.D.” The malware apparently opens a backdoor that allows for remote control of the computer. The virus is based in RealBasic and a Universal Binary able to infect both PowerPC- and Intel-Based Macs. If the virus is installed, it can cause a number of different malign operations to be performed remotely.

Read More...

Fake Anti-Virus Software a Major Problem According to Symantec

Fake security software was the primary security issue hitting computer users in 2009, according to a recently released report by Symantec. Also, Mac users have experienced an increase in number of victims of cyber crime as more users looked to store data on the Internet rather than on hard drives.

Read More....

FarmTown Users Beware: New Virus On The Loose

Slashkey, the developers behind FarmTown, is actively alerting users to a new virus going around thanks to rogue advertising being displayed within the game. The advertising tells users to beware of a new virus on their computer and once clicked, they are infected with malware even though there was no virus installed on their computer to begin with. Below is a copy of the alert being sent to users.

Read More....

Google says 11,000 domains distributing rogue anti-virus

Rogue anti-virus software currently accounts for 15 percent of all web-based malware and is growing in prevalence, according to researchers at Google.

Read More....

Beware! PDF in mail could be a virus

KOLKATA: There’s a new way of stealing data from your PC. Hackers are using Adobe Acrobat file format — commonly called PDF files — to siphon off sensitive data from your PC to China.

Read More....

Gravitys Edge Computers

Why Gravitys Edge Computers? You have many options when it comes to computer repair, from Richmond to Charlottesville and even remote out-of-state or even out of country companies, all willing to fix a virus or other pc issues. What happens when you get home, or if you need additional help?

We won’t leave you stranded with the help of our technicians and personal guides we want you to have a good computer repair experience, feeling good about not just the repair but the long term health of your computer system.

Our goal is to repair your system and teach you how to maintain your own computer and once a year have us do your yearly check-up. We have clients, not just customers.

Researchers warn of malware hidden in .zip files

Security researchers have discovered flaws in common file formats, including .zip, which can be used to sneak malware onto computers by evading antivirus detection.

Read More....

Google Sees Fake AV Threat

Fake anti-virus software is on the rise and currently accounts for about 15% of all malware detected, according to a forthcoming report from Google.

Read More...

Inside a global cybercrime ring

According to court documents, former employees and investigators, a receptionist greeted visitors at the door of the company, known as Innovative Marketing Ukraine. Communications cables lay jumbled on the floor and a small coffee maker sat on the desk of one worker. Read More

Is chasing cybercrooks worth it?

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/05/cyberattack.prosecute/

Kneber botnet virus attacks 75,000 computers worldwide

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/02/18/2010-02-18_kneber_botnet_virus_attacks_75000_computers_worldwide_including_us_government_sy.html

McAfee: A million 'scareware' victims a day

http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-10466253-238.html

PolyMorphic Win32:Vitro Most Viraulent Virus

The Virut family of viruses uses polymorphism to hide from all anti-virus protection, it infects executable files. File infection makes it very hard to repair a system that has been infected. W32/Vitro injects code in running processes and hooks the following functions in ntdll.dll which transfers control to the virus every time any of these function calls are made.

* NtCreateFile
* NtCreateProcess
* NtCreateProcessEx
* NtOpenFile
* NtQueryInformationProcess

This is a very bad virus most people think this virus is coming from video sites, however it’s self-executes. I have found it to place its self on external media without you knowing it. This includes USB-drives, CD’s, Floppy, Hard drives and so on.
It’s bad, and almost imposable to remove.

How many pixels are there in a frame of 35mm film?

How many pixels are there in a frame of 35mm film?

(an FAQ on digital photography)

This is a somewhat controversial question, and there are many possible answers. Film is an analog medium, so it doesn't have "pixels" per se, though film scanners have pixels and a specific resolution.

Today the one thing most people agree on is that it's a more than any current consumer digital camera. The debate is about how much resolution the digitals will have to reach to start matching the film.

The very short answer is that there are around 20 million "quality" pixels in a top-quality 35mm shot. That's a shot with a tripod, mirror-up, with a top-rate lens and the finest-grained film, in decent light. 12 million are more typical for "good" shots. There may be as few as 4 million "quality" pixels in a handheld shot with a point-and-shoot camera or camera with a poor lens. And of course if focus is poor, or light is poor, or the camera was not held steady, the number will drop down below the 1-2 million pixels of the modern consumer digicam. Of course, one can have a bad shot with a digital camera too, not using all its resolving ability. However, few pick their gear with the plan of shooting badly.

The eye, however, is not as discerning when looking at a picture in the usual context as it can be when looking at things blown up. So many can also argue that a shot of around 9 million pixels would look as good to the eye as a 35mm shot, except when blown up very large and looked at quite closely.

It's important to note another key difference. Film, as an analog medium, does not record just 256 grayscales or the corresponding 16 million colours. And film scanners, even doing just 8 bits per colour, get 24 bits of data for every single pixel. Today's digital cameras only get 8 bits of data for each pixel and they guess (interpolate) the other 16. So the colour accuracy for even a scanned film image is better than the modern digital camera. Good film scanners can also extract more than just levels from 0 to 255. They can often go to 12 bits (0 to 4097) to detect much more detail in shadows, and provide more contrast. As such a film scanner gets as much as 36 bits of information for each pixel, instead of 8.

More modern digital cameras gather 10 or even 12 bits of the single colour pixel, and keep it if they record in RAW mode, but reduce it in JPEG mode. Foveon digital cameras record all 3 colours per pixel, like film, but their sensors have lower resolution as of now.

As a counter note, the 24 bits of colour from a film scanner, while better than the 8 to 12 bits per sample of a bayer-interpolated digital camera, is nowhere near near 3 times as good as some pretend. The interpolation algorithms are good, and rely on the fact that to the eye, particularly in natural scenes, position-brightness information is much more important than colour information. How much better full colour information is is subjective, but it's not even close to 3 times better. On the other hand, even the 36 bits from the best scanner is not enough. The film has much more information.

Negative film itself tends to be able to hold around 1000 to 1 contrast range. Quality slide film projects more levels, though over a slightly narrower exposure range. (To make this clearer, negative films capture a wider range but can't display it when printed. Slide films capture a more narrow range, just a bit better than digital, but can display it all when projected.) Generally one desires at least 12 bits per colour to represent it. Your eye, by widening and closing the iris, can sample an astounding (eye-popping!) 7 decimal orders of magnitude of range of contrast, which would need at least 24 bits.

So there is a lot of information in film. However, not all of it is usable information, which causes the debate about the equivalence in pixels. Film is made up of chemical grains. The more you blow up film, the more you start seeing noise caused by those grains, and eventually the very clumping of the grains themselves. Of course some are bothered by the grain more than others.

The finest films (which are slow and best with sunlight or flash) have very fine grain, and in many cases, the limits of the lenses blur the image before the grains start causing too much trouble. However with a decent lens you don't have to blow up too much before you see the grain. Of course, digital images, once they get to high resolutions, will also be subject to lens limits (and they already are on cheaper cameras.) They are actually more subject because CCDs are currently much smaller than 35mm.

These films, with good lenses, are capable of resolving as much as 7000 pixels (3500 "line pairs") over the width of a 35mm frame -- about 5000 dots per inch. However, before that point, while they can resolve "line pairs," the image is pretty noisy. The lines are not resolved as straight, sharp-edged entities, but you can tell there is a white line next to a black line.

There is more information to be extracted even at this fine resolution, but the deeper you go, the more noise you also extract.

To make the image not look "grainy" and otherwise poor, you need to pull back. Subjective tests suggest this is to about 4000 DPI, or around 5600 pixels. For a 3:2 frame, that means around 20 million pixels. (Of course some people don't mind grain as much as others, so your mileage may vary. Also, if you can get a scan that good, digital techniques can reduce the visibility of grain and extend the resolution of film.)

Down at this level, however, you're reaching the limits of most lenses. They may be able to resolve high-contrast items at this level but most pixels are a little blurry. A crop at this level does not look nearly as good as a scaled down full shot.

What this means is that a 5300 x 4000 digital camera would produce a shot equivalent to a scan from a quality 35mm camera -- provided you could get more than 8 bits per pixel. You could blow up the 35mm shot a little bit more and see a little bit more, but only at the cost of producing a grainy image. Chances are a 3000 x 2000 digital camera would match the 35mm for a good percentage of shots.

Prints

Prints also are analog output. In theory a print can have all the information of film, however photographic paper tends to only be able to hold a range of 100 to 1 in contrast. That's less than a monitor can. In addition, the printing process is not perfect, and often blurs an image. Typical lab prints don't seem to store much more than 200-250 pixels for each inch. Quality labs can do better -- perhaps up to 500 pixels/inch. (The paper can, in theory, do more, but there isn't that much more in the negative.) Thus a 5x7 print probably is similar to a 1400 x 1000 digital image (if the digital image has enough bits per pixel.) It's rarely more than the 2100 x 1500 that 300 dpi would imply.

It's always better to scan from print film or slide film. You get far more contrast, and far more detail, and it's not second generation. (Though be warned some slide scanners are not up to the range of contrast in a good slide.)

Digital Printing

Makers of digital printers play lots of games with their resolution. The "dots" they speak of (when they talk about a 720 dpi resolution) are dots of single colour ink. A pixel, on the other hand, is a dot capable of the full colour range. You need lots of dots to make a specific colour and not look spotty. To render a pixel well can require scores of ink dots. In the end, the goal is a "continuous tone" image at a given number of pixels per inch. Most printers can only simulate continuous or near-continuous tone. (Digital film recorders, or photographic paper recorders, can do near-continuous tone.)

Getting the scan

Today, high end digital SLRS commonly have 8 megapixels, and some have 12 or even 16. Serious shooters are preferring them to film. First of all, the resolution is pretty similar to film at its best, and secondly getting everything out of film requires a lot of work with a very good scanner.

Scanning is hard work. One must deal with dust and fingerprints. It takes a lot of time. And it adds another generation to the process, dependent on the optics and scanning elements of the scanner.

Pixel-Mania

Today in digital cameras, marketing departments have created a bit of pixel-mania. They are working too hard at increasing the number of megapixels they can advertise without always caring about the quality of the pixels. A small point and shoot with 8 megapixels is probably a lot worse than the old 6 megapixel canon D60 -- it may even be worse due to noise that the 3 megapixel D30. Resolution is important but not the only thing.

What would you rather shoot on?

The real question of course is "which do you want to shoot on?" When considering the quality DSLRs from Canon or Nikon, most people have switched to preferring the images from the 8 megapixel models compared to 35mm film, and some switched at the 6 megapixel models. Even the purists began switching with the 12 megapixel models and certainly with the highest end 16 megapixel cameras. In fact, some have switched from medium format films to these high end models.

Can they get a better shot with a 35mm chrome than an 8MP DSLR? Probably, but only by a small amount. But the DSLR is just so much easier to work with, and so much more flexible that when the final goal is digital (as it almost always is today) the choice for these photographers is not very hard.


Site: http://pic.templetons.com/brad/photo/pixels.html