COMPUTASSIST

There are many ways to protect your computers and the private information on them. A common way used on personal computers and web sites is to require a login user name and password. In theory, those with the correct credentials get in, and everyone else is blocked. But like everything else computers help us to do, they have made password cracking easier. What used to be impossible can now be done in ever-shorter amounts of processing time. How strong are the passwords you use?

I have done some research recently on laptops / notebooks for business users, specifically small business users with no IT staff and no purchasing guidelines. Ultra-portable netbooks are popular, especially with frequent travelers. But assuming you need a full-size laptop computer, here are my recommendations.

I recently got an HTC Hero cell phone (on Sprint) running Google's Android operating system. Android has much in common with my old favorite, the Palm OS: it's versatile, efficient, elegant, accessible, and developer and user friendly.

Not to mention eminently hackable.