CONFICKER WARNING - VIRUS ATTACK

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CONFICKER WARNING - BACKUP YOUR SYSTEMS AND DATA TODAY - URGENT!
--Douglas Castle

Tomorrow -- April 1 -- is D-Day for Conficker, as whatever nasty payload it's packing is currently set to activate. What happens come midnight is a mystery: Will it turn the millions of infected computers into spam-sending zombie robots? Or will it start capturing everything you type -- passwords, credit card numbers, etc. -- and send that information back to its masters?
No one knows, but we'll probably find out soon.

Or not. As Slate notes, Conficker is scheduled to go "live" on April 1, but whoever's controlling it could choose not to wreak havoc but instead do absolutely nothing, waiting for a time when there's less heat. They can do this because the way Conficker is designed is extremely clever: Rather than containing a list of specific, static instructions, Conficker reaches out to the web to receive updated marching orders via a huge list of websites it creates. Conficker.C -- the latest bad boy -- will start checking 50,000 different semi-randomly-generated sites a day looking for instructions, so there's no way to shut down all of them. If just one of those sites goes live with legitimate instructions, Conficker keeps on trucking.

Conficker's a nasty little worm that takes serious efforts to bypass your security defenses, but you aren't without some tools in your arsenal to protect yourself.

Your first step should be the tools you already have: Windows Update, to make sure your computer is fully patched, and your current antivirus software, to make sure anything that slips through the cracks is caught.

But if Conficker's already on your machine, it may bypass certain subsystems and updating Windows and your antivirus at this point may not work. If you are worried about anything being amiss -- try booting into Safe Mode, which Conficker prevents, to check -- you should run a specialized tool to get rid of Conficker.

Microsoft offers a web-based scanner (note that some users have reported it crashed their machines; I had no trouble with it), so you might try one of these downloadable options instead: Symantec's Conficker (aka Downadup) tool, Trend Micro's Cleanup Engine, or Malwarebytes. Conficker may prevent your machine from accessing any of these websites, so you may have to download these tools from a known non-infected computer if you need them. Follow the instructions given on each site to run them successfully. (Also note: None of these tools should harm your computer if you don't have Conficker.)

As a final safety note, all users -- whether they're worried about an infection or know for sure they're clean -- are also wise to make a full data backup today.

What won't work? Turning your PC off tonight and back on on April 2 will not protect you from the worm (sorry to the dozens of people who wrote me asking if this would do the trick). Changing the date on your PC will likely have no helpful effect, either. And yes, Macs are immune this time out.

This warning appears courtesy of Yahoo!

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle
http://aboutdouglascastle.blogspot.com/

BRAINTENANCE QUIZ 3/31/09 - 4/3/09

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Dear Friends:


Firstly, let me provide you with some answers:


1. Sid is four years younger than his brother Gordon. Their combined ages are 36. In five years, their combined ages will be Sid's current age plus thirty. How old is Gordon? (trivia bonus: and where's papa?); Sid is 16. Gordon is 20. Where's Poppa? was my favorite movie when I was a college student. (Poppa's actually dead).

2. A truck carrying a cargo of 10,000 pounds of gravel is traveling down a bumpy road. The truck (which is old, and which was formerly owned by Fred Sanford, who didn't take good care of it) loses 15 pounds of gravel per mile. How far will the truck have traveled by the time its remaining cargo weighs 9,750 pounds? During this trip, the truck has lost a total of 25o pounds. If we divide the total amount lost (250 pounds) by the loss rate of 15 pounds per mile, we find that the truck has traveled 16.67 miles.

3. The same truck (as in the previous question) had traveled 40 miles prior to its cargo being reduced to 10,000 pounds. How much did its original cargo weigh? Since the truck has lost 15 pounds per mile, we multiply 15 by 40 miles, and find out that the truck has lost a total of 600 pounds. Since the truck's cargo is now 1,000 pounds, it must have been 1,600 pounds at the start of the trip.

4. The same truck eventually is down to a cargo weight of 9,000 pounds, at which point it begins to lose an additional 2.5 pounds of gravel per mile every 10 miles. How much will the truck weigh when it has traveled an additional 30 miles? During the first 10 miles it will lose 12.5 pounds/ mile (10 + 2.5), for a total of 125 pounds; during the second 10 miles it will lose 15 pounds per mile, for a total of 150 pounds; during the third 10 miles, it will lose 17.5 pounds per mile, for a total of 175 pounds. Adding 125 + 150 + 175 gives us a grand total loss of 450 pounds. If the truck started out with a cargo 0f 9,000 pounds, it is now down to 8,550 pounds.

5. How many ways can you rearrange 8 statues in a row? This is an oldie but a goodie. The answer is 8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1, or 40,320 different ways.
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TODAY'S TOUGHIE...

A cryptogram is a code made by substituting a different letter for each letter of the alphabet. In a particular code, for example, the "l"s might be replaced by "j"s, and the "j"s might be replaced by "b"s. Every letter is usually changed, and a different code (substitution pattern) is used for each problem.

Use any reference materials you think might help on the following 10 cryptograms. I have placed the answers on a separate page to keep you from looking until you're ready. Be aware that some of the puzzles may take a while to solve, so don't get frustrated - only a true cryptographer could decipher more than 7 of them! Many of the cryptograms were made using famous (and sometimes humorous) sayings, proverbs, adages and maxims.

One of the things to look for is the frequency of occurence of letters. For example, if a letter appears very frequently, it is likely to be an "e". If two of the same letters follow each other in the middle of a word, it is likely that they are the letter "e" or "o", as in "keep" or "look". Very few words every start with the letter "x"...and so forth. Also, certain two- and three- letter words occur very frequently -- look for these. Punctuation (especially apostrophes) tend to indicate possessive words -- look for these. Often, words are repeated more than once in a sentence -- look for these, too. There is no way to avoid some element of trial and error. Best of luck. The answers will be posted soon.

1. Hsen owsj sud, zq't erkvzkwztj; hsen owsj qas, zq't wdtdkwhp.

2. Y zyufa cbhvxa cw rna oawr uahcqa ivu nyqqcbaww C alau nayuj vi.

3. Jk cwjv sqzhe, kqcwjkp jv lozcmjk txc eomcw mke cmfov.

4. Kqozy kfq vzzx hq rz zmius kahf ozy sulx uorahaqy.

5. Oltp wsfy qsp wfypdsz ef, ethfy ef ypdsqmfd.

6. Ugsxqxai xi qez wzyqsz pvq gj wzqqxyw fgqzi jvgl qez uggv pyh aplupxwy jdyhi jvgl qez vxae om uvglxixyw qg uvgqzaq zpae jvgl qez gqezv.

7. Tfble snowpnywzv, vnf lgoykwpz vnf. Tfble skvvtfwzv, wp'z utzp prl kookzwpl.

8. Ugcvivyl fmce vi kzie hcdji emj gjhjhogcyaj wjcg.

9. Brwqhlfkw hjk qibwk qicedw zbg wkk mike zbg qhsk zbgj kzkw buu zbgj dbhfw.

10. Rka pbrgsgxr rkgjnx rkgx gx rka zaxr pt uii ypfiex. Rka baxxgsgxr taufx rkgx gx rfda.

ANSWERS TO CRYPTOGRAMS (heh-heh)

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

BRAINTENANCE QUIZ: 3/26/09 -3/30/09

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Dear Friends:

Greetings!

Before we start our program for today, I would like to provide you with the answers to a few of the questions in the last quiz:

1. Find a synonym for the word "lucrative". profitable
2. Find an antonym for the word "opulent". plush; evidencing wealth
3. How old were you 23 years ago?
4. What was your first telephone number?
5. Why does a plank of wood float in the ocean, while a bowling ball will generally sink? The plank of wood is less dense than the bowling ball, and is also constructed in a shape that thins its mass out to allow floatation, whereas the bowling ball is super-dense and has al of its mass concentrated.
6. What's the next number in this series: 0.5, 0.25, 0.125 ....? 0.0625
7. What's the next letter combination in this series: AC, BD, EG .....? FH
8. What's the next number in this series: 100, 1, 99 ......? 2
10. In what business is a staple a staple? Two answers: every business...or...in a stationery store.
11. In what occupation or pursuit is it seen as beneficial to lose? Dieting
12. What's the next combination in this series: ABC, BCD, CDE.... ? DEF
Extra Credit: Does the surface area of your brain increase or decrease with each acquired convolution (wrinkle)? It increases.

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And now, to today's puzzles, mind-benders, conundrums and brain-wrinklers...

1. Sid is four years younger than his brother Gordon. Their combined ages are 36. In five years, their combined ages will be Sid's current age plus thirty. How old is Gordon? (trivia bonus: and where's papa?);

2. A truck carrying a cargo of 10,000 pounds of gravel is traveling down a bumpy road. The truck (which is old, and which was formerly owned by Fred Sanford, who didn't take good care of it) loses 15 pounds of gravel per mile. How far will the truck have traveled by the time its remaining cargo weighs 9,750 pounds?

3. The same truck (as in the previous question) had traveled 40 miles prior to its cargo being reduced to 10,000 pounds. How much did its original cargo weigh?

4. The same truck eventually is down to a cargo weight of 9,000 pounds, at which point it begins to lose an additional 2.5 pounds of gravel per mile every 10 miles. How much will the truck weigh when it has traveled an additional 30 miles?

5. How many ways can you rearrange 8 statues in a row?

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

CHRISTINE SOTMARY RADIO INTERVIEW

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THE NATIONAL NETWORKER (TNNW) is honored to invite you to a radio show featuring an interview with TNNW Member CHRISTINE SOTMARY, author of the newly-released and critically-acclaimed book LIVING ON THE VERGE OF INSANITY. The show, hosted by Paul Morris, will be aired Wednesday, March 25th, from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm (Eastern Time) at www.blogtalkradio.com/the-self-bonding-hour.

You can order Christine’s book directly at http://christinesotmary.blogspot.com/.

More info?: Click for download http://www.mediafire.com/?ynnzgbgyk2m

BRAINTENANCE QUIZ: MARCH 19, 2009

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Dear Friends:

Today's exercises will cause you to call upon diverse skill sets, and will provide you with an all-around mind workout. One rule: You may not use a calculator, documentation or other aids. Your mind is the only guest at this function:

1. Find a synonym for the word "lucrative".

2. Find an antonym for the word "opulent".

3. How old were you 23 years ago?

4. What was your first telephone number?

5. Why does a plank of wood float in the ocean, while a bowling ball will generally sink?

6. What's the next number in this series: 0.5, 0.25, 0.125 ....?

7. What's the next letter combination in this series: AC, BD, EG .....?

8. What's the next number in this series: 100, 1, 99 ......?

10. In what business is a staple a staple?

11. In what occupation or pursuit is it seen as beneficial to lose?

12. What's the next combination in this series: ABC, BCD, CDE.... ?

Extra Credit: Does the surface area of your brain increase or decrease with each acquired convolution (wrinkle)?

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

BRAINTENANCE QUIZ: 3/16/09 - 3/18/09

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Dear Readers:

My friend and client, Bruce Newman of THE PRODUCTIVITY INSTITUTE, LLC (http://www.prodinst.com/) shared these terrific puzzles with me. And now, I share them with you. By the way, I would strongly advise you to subscribe to Bruce's fabulous newsletter at newsletter@prodinst.com at your soonest opportunity. It is interesting, informative, and very well-written. Bruce, himself, is a thought leader in the Coprorate Needs Analysis and in locating, qualifying and emplacing consultants into companies. He'd would be a good perosn to know.

Here are Bruce's Brainbusters:


This is a quiz for people who know everything! I found out in a hurry that I didn't. These are not trick questions. They are straight questions with straight answers:

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.

2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?

3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?

4. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

5. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?

6. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters 'dw' and they are all common words. Name two of them.

7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at leasthalf of them?

8. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

9. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter 'S.'


Answers To Quiz:

1. The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends . Boxing

2.. North American landmark constantly moving backward. Niagara Falls (The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.)

3. Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons . Asparagus and rhubarb.

4. The fruit with its seeds on the outside .... Strawberry.

5. How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle? It grew inside the bottle. (The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.)

6. Three English words beginning with dw Dwarf, dwell and dwindle.

7. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar. . Period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.

8. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh Lettuce.

9. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with 'S'. Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilts..

Thank you, Bruce!

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

BRAINTENANCE QUIZ: 3/13/09

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Dear Friends:

Before we get to the meat of today's important business of the brain, I feel compelled to share the following post with you, which I stole from my blog (without asking permission) http://aboutdouglascastle.blogspot.com/.

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You may be asking yourself (if you are still on speaking terms), "What do profit-taking and ukeleles have in common?" Frankly, I don't know either. Anyway...

Click on: http://www.optimum.net/News/AP/Article?articleId=536676

and then,

Click on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptlW99wWBWY&feature=related

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle



*******
And now, to the serious stuff:

1. Download some puzzles and riddles from http://www.mediafire.com/file/tgcvldtyndn/Braintenance Puzzles and Riddles 3-13-09.doc

2. After you have given those five wondrous puzzles and riddles your best cerebration, download the SOLUTIONS from http://www.mediafire.com/file/tkzgzjyk0gm/Braintenance Puzzles and Riddles 3-13-09 SOLUTIONS.doc

3. Have a wonderful weekend.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

BRAINTENANCE QUIZ 3/12/09

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Dear Friends:

This is not a quiz. It is a simple, beneficial exercise in visual perception.

It is often quite helpful to see, in the form of a chart, graph, or another physical/ visual aid, something that is discussed in theoretical or or abstract terms. Making the abstract appear more tangible helps make for better decisionmaking in all aspects of your life. Today's case-in-point...A TRILLION DOLLARS.

Take a moment and visit http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html.

After you have done this, be certain that you come back here and make http://Braintenance.blogspot.com a FAVORITE on your computer, and that you subscribe for either our daily RSS feed or our daily EMAIL feed.

Faithfully, and in friendship,

Douglas Castle
http://aboutDouglasCastle.blogspot.com

BRAINTENANCE QUIZ: 3/9/09 and 3/10/09

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Dear Friends (have I any left?):

Memorizing strings of letters, numbers and words is a superb (albeit annoying) exercise, not only for the memory, but for the ability to associate and to visualize. For example, if two of the words are "monkey" and "apple," you may visualize a monkey eating an apple in order to keep the two associated. I have an acquaintance (he will probably cross me off of his party invitation list after he has read this) whose name is John Reade -- in order to remember his name, I visualized a gentleman sitting on the toilet and looking at an open book. It worked.

Following are some strings of letters, numbers and words for you to work (or play) with. The numerical ones and the letter strings are sometimes best mastered by "chunking". This means putting together groups of three to five characters at a time, and storing them as a whole "clump" in your memory. Another trick is to look at the string, choose your clump, and then close your eyes while continuing to visualize the string. The more often you do this, the better you become.

You will note that the strings below are neither numbered nor lettered for indexing purposes; for me to do so would actually complicate matters.

Sharpen your skills, Humanoids, lest we be outsmarted by alien visitors in the future Intergalactic Olympics!

Q T E K L

A I T R U W

Z S C V B R O

S F V Y K Z P U E

E A W J D P H D M S

1 3 5 7 9

2 5 3 6 4 7

6 3 4 5 7 8 9 (Wilson Pickett Fans)

2 5 6 3 9 8 8 6

9 6 7 4 5 8 1 3 4 1

APPLE, BANANA, CARROT

CRANBERRY, BLUEBERRY, RASPBERRY, BOYSENBERRY, BLACKBERRY

ZOO, BUSH, SCRAPE, ANTONYM, FICUS, HARMONIUS, MONKEY

LANGUID, SQUALOR, BEAUTY, CLOUD, PEARL, HARNESS, SNAKE, STIR, POKE

Enjoy!

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

BRAINTENANCE QUIZ: 3/6/09

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Dear Friends:

Greetings and confabulations!

For starters, let's find the answers to yesterday's three probability questions:

Q: If the probability of a student being nominated as a candidate for class president is 5%, and the probability of his or her actually winning the presidency is 12%, what is the probability of:

1. A student being nominated but not elected? The probability of a student being nominated is .05. The probability of a student, once nominated, of being elected (e.g, both nominated and elected) is .o5 x .12, which equals .006, or 0.6%. The probability of a student being nominated and then nor elected (which is the only alternative possibility) is 1.000 - 0.006 = .994, or 99.4%.

2. A student being neither nominated nor elected? The probability of a student being nominated is .05. If a student is not nominated, he or she cannot become elected. Therefore, the probability of a student's not being nominated is a limiting condition. The probability of a student being neither nominated nor elected is the same as the probability of a studen't not being nominated, which is 1.000 - .05 = .95, or 95%.

3. A student not being nominated, but being elected? If is student is not nominated, the student cannot be elected. Therefore the probability of a student being elected without having first being nominated (barring the possibility of a violent takeover) is 0.0. This was a bit of a trick question. The key here is to always look at the situation and circumstances before applying any math.
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Today's exercise is easy. It may just require a dictionary and some courage. Use each of the following words aloud in at least three sentences during the course of this weekend. Be brave -- you can do it!

LUCRATIVE

AFFLUENT

DESPISE

PROFLIGATE

PONDEROUS

NEFARIOUS

TENACIOUS

QUIXOTIC

DRACONIAN

Have a wonderful, word-filled weekend. Why be laconic when you can be loquacious? Eh?

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle,
CELEBRATED INVENTOR OF THE OMNIGADGET
(for a sneak preview of this amazing invention, visit http://TheTNNWomnigadget.blogspot.com

BRAINTENANCE QUIZ: 3/5/09

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Dear Friends:


Firstly, let's answer the questions posed in the last thrill-packed posting of BRAINTENANCE, wherein you were newly empowered with the interest and annuity tables made available above this posting section. Here they are:


1. What will my monthly mortage payment be on a loan of $300,000.00 for 20 years at 6%?
Using the LOAN AMORTIZATION CALCULATOR, the answer is $2,149.29.


2. How much money must I deposit each month into an account bearing interest at 7% per annum to accumulate the total sum (the "Future Value") of $25,000 at the end of 20 years?
Using the ANNUITY CALCULATOR, the answer is found in years, so that my answer would be $569.93 per year...however, since the question required that the answer be stated in months, I divided the annual amount $569.93 by 12, to come up with an answer of approximately $47.49 per month.


3. What sum must I invest today, at 8% interest per annum, in order to accumulate a future sum of $15,000 in 12 years?
Using the PRESENT VALUE CALCULATOR, the answer found is $5,956.71.

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Today's exercise is a simple one which involves probability -- one of my personal favorites (and one of yours, too, I hope):

Q: If the probability of a student being nominated as a candidate for class president is 5%, and the probability of his or her actually winning the presidency is 12%, what is the probability of:

1. A student being nominated but not elected?

2. A student being neither nominated nor elected?

3. A student not being nominated, but being elected?

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

BRAINTENANCE QUIZ: 3/3/09 and 3/4/09

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Dear Friends:

I have supplied you with a wonderful tool for solving various financial questions (although I wish I could solve all of our financial problems as well) in the form of a screen and some very useful financial computational tables. This tool is located above the big "BRAINTENANCE" sign above these articles.

Using those wonderful tables, you should be able to answer these financial questions without too much difficulty. The skill sets required are 1) common sense, and 2) the ability to utilize calculator tools. No manual computations are required!

1. What will my monthly mortage payment be on a loan of $300,000.00 for 20 years at 6%?

2. How much money must I deposit each month into an account bearing interest at 7% per annum to accumulate the total sum (the "Future Value") of $25,000 at the end of 20 years?

3. What sum must I invest today, at 8% interest per annum, in order to accumulate a future sum of $15,000 in 12 years?

Good luck!

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

HOT NEW FEATURE -- USEFUL MATH TABLES

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Dear Friends:

Well, jeepers! I am so easily excited. I had a brainstorm (a 0.000000076 on the Richter Scale) the other day, and decided to install a window into this blog page (you can see it above the article posting section) with website addresses to various mathematical tables, covering such fascinating topics as annuities, compound interest, and numerous others. You can simply copy and paste the url (website addresses, http://..........) of any table you'd like into the space provided, and the table will appear in the window. And the best part? You never have to leave this page! Ever!

And to think that some people regard me as a pompous, self-righteous, pedagogical know-it-all. They're not laughing now.

What do they know?

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle
p.s. Who loves ya, baby?

BRAINTENANCE QUIZ: 3/2/09

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Dear Friends:

Firstly, let me apologize for a mis-posting in my previous article. Pi (the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter) is approximately equal to 22/7, or 3.142857... I had given you the wrong fraction, and the wrong decimal equivalent. I 'll try to avoid that in the future.

And (adding injury to insult, or vice versa), I am not going to give you the solution to the third problem posed in the "packing of spheres into a box" section.

Today, in a quick and pleasant departure from grueling math problems, I will present you with a number of possible words, with certain letters left out. Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to merely fill in the blanks to complete the words. This is a wonderfully stimulating mental exercise -- statistically speaking, persons who do a greater amount of reading tend to do better in terms of 1) completing the words, and in terms of 2) coming up with the most possible letter combinations in order to form the greatest number of words. This exercise requires visualization, imagination, recall, vocabulary and a measure of self-confidence when it comes to the speed with which you can fit letters into the blanks. Good luck, and enjoy this exercise:

HA_

B_ST

S_REAM

E_ _ ELL_NT

_ABUL_ _

ST_ _ _

_AN_ _ _

This is a wonderful brain-wrinkler. Not only does it make you think (and burn a few Calories in the process), but it will also tell you a bit about what you tend to think about.

Self-discovery is very empowering. Use what you learn about yourself to improve yourself!

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle