The Refresh Orlando Heirs

As a single male in my mid-twenties, I find myself consciously and unconsciously thinking about and searching for that special someone. My goal has always been to be friends with my future wife for at least a year, date for a year, engaged for a year, which includes being married by the time I’m thirty.

This goal may seem far-fetched and I admit it is, so I’m open to altering it. I know what I want in a future spouse (I think) and I definitely know what I don’t want. But the older I get, the more I realize that the challenge to find someone who fits what I want and what I don’t want seems like “mission: impossible.” My impatience steps in which seems to prolong my wait to meet this future wife of mine.

Occasionally, I reflect on the thought that she is out there somewhere so I wonder what she is doing at that very moment and if she is thinking of me. As much as I am actively trying to find someone, I’m reminded by my friends how they found their special someone when they were least expecting to. I have to remind myself and know that God will introduce me to her and reveal who she is when we are both ready.

So does that mean I’m not ready? I think I am, but at times I have my doubts. Maybe she isn’t ready, which could mean that she is doing something to better herself for our relationship. I’ll always go back to the question of if I’m ready or not. How will I know? I believe the answer lies in how I respond to the following questions:

I ask myself if I’m financially ready. Who is? I graduated college a couple of years ago and have already went through two career changes and I have been laid off. Needless to say, my checkbook is nowhere near where I want it to be, I won’t even mention credit cards. So I need to think more about saving for my future, buying a house, and paying off some bills. After all, I don’t want to drag her into my debt and spending habits. I know that I need to better myself in regards to finances.

I ask myself, am I physically fit and attractive? The honest answer is that I’m not in as good of shape as I’d like to be and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I know I need to join a gym, look online for articles about cooking healthier for bachelors, and watch how many times I go out to eat. What is a better motivator to working out besides looking good for yourself and gaining that confidence, than wanting to look good for your significant other? After all, I hope my wife is attracted to me as I am to her.

I ask myself, am I smart? With a college degree I think so, until I watch shows like Jeopardy or play board games with friends and I realize that I still have a lot to learn. I am thinking of going back to school. After all, I want my wife to think I’m intelligent.

I ask myself if I’m in the spiritual place with God that I want to be. Do I attend church every week? Do I read the Bible each day? Am I asking more from God than I am thanking Him during prayer? Am I a good example for others and am I teaching them about God? After all, I hope my future wife and I can pray together and maybe take a leadership role in a youth group.

I ask myself, am I happy as an individual? A relationship can bring happiness and fill the void of being alone, but should I put that burden on my future wife? If you are comfortable being yourself, being happy alone and don’t need someone, that is a step in the right direction. I believe that needing someone to fill a void and wanting someone to fill a void are two entirely different things. This is why your relationships begin with you. After all, if you don’t love yourself, then how do you expect someone else to?

“Happiness depends upon ourselves”
~ Aristotle

When you fulfill the above aspects of your life to an acceptable extent - then watch out, your future spouse may just be at the local bookstore, in the gym, at church, at work, at school, or at the bank. I don’t expect to be able to accomplish each of these things in the next four years, but I will always strive to do so. After all, I hope she will always strive to do the same. And most of all, I hope we will continue to strive to do these things together!

Chad J. Bring is a rising author who just published his first novel, “Left Standing” in addition to co-writing a screenplay for an independent film through their RoomMate Productions film production company.

The biggest security threat to your company is you and your staff - not the internet.

The internet is merely a communications channel for data - it’s how you manage that channel and that data that is important.

With computing, shared networking, and internet connections, it means that information can flow more easily between PCs.

But that also brings with it added security risks - it’s easier for people to find your logins and try and force them, and opportunists will try and steal your passwords where they can.

Ultimately, it’s not up to the internet or existing software to reactively protect you against every instance of a security threat - you need to take proactive action in the first place to minimise those threats.

This really needs underlining, because even the most sophisticated security equipment will not protect you as required if it is poorly used.

Ultimately, protecting your business can be as easy as using common sense and following very basic steps.

Here are a few basic tips on how to protect against these user access threats:

1. Don’t use the passwords manager on Internet Explorer to save passwords. If your PC is infected with a trojan or virus, this is often one of the first places they check.
2. If you save your passwords to a file - a text or Word document - don’t name it something obvious like “passwords”. If an unauthorised user got into your PC, you want to make it hard for them to locate your passwords.
3. Again, if you save passwords in a file, don’t use the word “password” in such a file either. Otherwise an unauthorised user could simply use your computer’s “search” facility for that word, and go straight to them. Simply use the initials “U” and “P” for “username” and “password” - that will be much harder to search out.
4. Only provide password information to people who need to use them - and if someone needs to use a password protected feature temporarily, then change the password afterwards. After all, you cannot be certain how well third-parties will protect your important security details.
5. Have different levels of passwords for different operations. For example, have a different password for accessing your e-mail, and a different password for accessing your website. That way, if someone somehow finds out one of your passwords, they cannot access all of your business operations.
6. Create really secure passwords by mixing up letters, numbers, and using upper and lower case, and even punctuation marks. Make passwords memorable by basing them on acronyms - ie, this is an article called “Online Security for Business: User access threats” and is written in 2006 - so an acronym from that could be: OS4Buat2006. That’s a strong password, and it’s much easier to remember as an acronym.
7. Don’t install desktop search applications, even by reputable vendors such as Google or Yahoo!, as they will not only help you find information quickly, but will also be invaluable to a hacker looking for sensitive information on your computer system. Instead, keep your files organised on your PC so you don’t need to resort to a desktop search tool in the first place.
8. Ensure you install anti-virus, a firewall, anti-spyware and anti-adware - and keep them up to date. This will make it far harder for anyone to access your machine without authorisation, The best of these software types will also keep checking the internet for updates.
9. You should ensure you make regular hard-copy back-ups of your computer data. And store them safely and securely, in a restricted place - such as a safe. You can make these backups to computer tape, DVD or CD media, or even just save everything to a USB stick at the end of the day.
10. Ensure you have off-site back-ups of all physical and electronic data essential to your business. In the event of catastrophic damage to your premises, you can at least restore basic business operations.

Conclusion

You are never going to be clear of security risks - but you can certainly minimise them. Keeping a security-conscious office is neither expense nor time-consuming. Considering the costs of losing essential data and equipment, can it really be that hard?

Brian Turner runs Security Watch, a site that keeps up to date with exploits and security discussions. He also runs the online security resources Trojan Library and Worm Library.