On Antivirus Applications, Malware, and Safety on the Net

Over the years I've tried numerous antivirus apps. I've used several versions of Norton, used McAfee, Kaspersky, Avast, AVG, Panda, and Nod 32 from Eset. For years Norton was the standard with McAfee a close second. Around 2003 or so Symantec the maker of Norton piled on the features and became ridiculously bloated and unmanageable. Around this time I tried Panda which sounded better and in fact slowed my computers down far less, and seemed very effective. I've tried AVG and Avast both excellent for free software. AVG in particular is a lightweight application that seems effective.

Lately after reading a recommendation in PC Magazine I decided to give Norton 2008 a try. The new version of Norton is less hassle than the old versions and seemed to slow down my PC less. I was happy with it until it did its daily scan, at that point everything slows way down. I frequently have 3-5 applications open at once and often have Firefox and or IE 7 open with multiple tabs. But when AVG or Nod 32 are running scans I saw little or no performance hit. Another point of annoyance is that I also have an IBM ThinkPad which has Symantec's corporate edition of Antivirus and Firewall. This application runs extremely fast both in the background and when doing scans. Why can't Symantec use this antivirus engine in their consumer grade product? Why does their consumer grade product suck so badly compared to the corporate version? I've noticed pretty much the same thing with McAfee which I use at work.

Of course do antivirus suites work anymore? With today's virus and spyware writers having the huge monetary incentive to keep crap from being removed from your machine probably the best antivirus/malware is the end user.

Some general rules to live by in today's computing world are:

1. Keep Windows updated, keep your Automatic Updates on and set for a time your machine is usually running.
   
2. Keep your Virus and antispyware definitions up to date.
   
3. Scan your machine daily, with antivirus and antispyware. Run only one antivirus but use multiple antispyware tools. Generally it's best to run only one antivirus at a time. However you can run as many antispyware tools as you like. The 3 best known free spyware programs are Ad-aware, Spybot Search and Destroy, and Microsoft Defender. It also makes sense to run a commercial antispyware program such as Spyware Doctor. All of these programs can be had at www.download.com
   
4. Do most of your computing especially online work as a limited user. Not operating as an administrator is always safer even if you are using a Mac or Linux system.
   
5. Don't click on links in an email. Never log on to EBay, PayPal, or any online financial site from a link in an email. Always type in the website manually to go to your bank or EBay account.
   
6. If you have teenagers using a family computer always have them log into the computer on a non-administrator account. Consider using Microsoft Windows Steady State program which will undo any changes done to the hard drive by limited users at the next re-boot. This program works great but may be a little on the geeky side. It does take some time to set up properly, but I've been playing with it and find it quite remarkable. Its designed to be used on public computers, such as in libraries so at the end of the day the administrator just re-boots the machine and it returns to its pre-configured condition.
   
7. Use Internet Explorer 7, Firefox, or Opera. Internet Explorer 6 is notoriously insecure and should be upgraded to 7 ASAP. Even IE 7 should only used for windows update on Windows XP. Firefox or Opera are generally less targeted by hackers and mal-ware writers. Firefox is getting more popular and is now becoming a target for exploits more and more. Use the add on, "No Scripts" which allows users to opt in for sites running scripts. "No Script" disables all scripts on a site until the user allows scripts to run hopefully preventing dangerous java script exploits from unknown or miss typed URLs. Vista users are safer in IE 7 than XP as Vista runs IE 7 in "protected Mode" which attempts to sandbox the browser from the hard drive. IE 7amp; also has a fairly effective phishing filter, which notifies the user if the link you clicked on in an email isn't taking you to the banking site you thought you were going to.
   
8. Use Windows Vista, if you can. Windows Vista was built with a priority of safe computing being one of Microsoft's primary goals. Unlike Windows XP which claimed to be safe when first released Vista truly does have a number of features that make you safer. The UAC or User Account Control is a feature similar to account permissions contained in most UNIX based OS's, that asks for an administrator's password whenever the user install software, hardware, or changes the system in a major way. This has saved me, it can save you from, "drive by malware attacks" where just browsing to a website with malicious code and infect you without clicking on anything.
   
9. Use virtual machine software such as Microsoft Virtual PC or similar software from VMware. Or a simpler solution is to use Sandbox IE. Sandbox IE allows you to use your browser in a "virtual sandbox" that protects your computer from malware as long as you don't save anything to your hard drive.
10. Last but certainly not least, use a nat router. A cheap but effective router either wired or wireless is a must have, in today's online environment. A router will reject traffic from the Internet that was unsolicited thus effectively acting as a hard ware firewall. Even if you only use 1 PC and it's connected to your modem, you should put a router between you and the internet. This applies to high speed connections of course, I'm not sure they make routers for dial up. Dial up users should probably use a third party software firewall such as Zone Alarm or Comodo both are free and work quite well.
    

Sayonara Powerbook

Today I finally unloaded my old G4 PowerBook. It was a great little computer but it's age finally caught up with it. For a long time I've gradually become distant from the old girl, my last fling with her occurred after I installed Leopard. It wasn't pleasant, it took seven tries at a clean install, finally I reinstalled Tiger and then tried an upgrade install and finally, it worked. But, in the end it was to little to late. Leopard is not really at its best on a G4, I never really got used to it and I never bothered to go back to 10.4.

I think the 12 inch Powerbook had the combination of elegance and utility that the new MacBook Air can't even come close to. In fact the "Air" is well, kind of like a beautiful woman with no substance or depth. Sure it looks incredible, but without well, everything, a decent ultra potable needs it's pretty much useless. Instead we get an under powered over priced, style is everything, substance can't be found, piece of crap. I think it's proof you can be to thin. A 12-13.3 inch MacBook Pro with dedicated graphics, a Superdrive, and high end core two duo processor with a 250 gig hard drive would have been a world class, kick ass, road warrior machine. The MacBook Air is a fine lapdog for some spoiled, whinny, air head, who mindlessly stairs at her Myspace page, pouting cause daddy won't buy her a bimmer.

Enough already on the "Air". The PowerBook was hard to part with. I almost backed down on the sale at the last minute. Now it has a nice home with a young college student who will hopefully get some more quality time with her. I gave it a clean install of Tiger so the thing is actually useful. Fact is, I just didn't need it anymore.

My new production laptop is a beautiful 4 month old Dell Inspiron 1420. It's not as pretty as the PowerBook but with 2.2 ghz core two duo, and a 7200 rpm 160 gig hard drive it it pretty much smokes any other computer I've used.

One of the better jokes going around right now is that the 15.4 MacBook Pro is the fastest notebook for running Windows Vista out there. The hardware spec on the high end Mac's is impressive, but I doubt it will match the high end XPS Dells or Alienware machine's out right now.

Another compelling reason for not buying a Mac notebook is the difficulty of doing an upgrade. I recently upgraded the hard drive on a 4 year old Dell. It took exactly 1 screw to get the hard drive out of the computer, 4 more screws for the enclosure, and that was it. Try that on a new MacBook or MacBook Pro. Just forget about it unless you have a weekend to kill.

Windows Live Writer

Tonight I thought that I would try out Windows Live Writer. This is part of the new Windows Live suite available from Microsoft, as a free download for either Windows Vista or Windows XP. The suite includes several very nice applications. I've  already tried Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Mail, and Windows Live Spaces. I've found the photo gallery and the mail application to be excellent. The photo gallery is similar to the Windows Photo Gallery that ships with Windows Vista. It allows basic editing functions and the ability to add tags and or captions. It also allows you to upload to your photos to your Windows Live Spaces account. The Windows Live Mail application is meant to enhance the standard Windows Mail in Vista or Outlook Express in Windows XP. You can add multiple email accounts from either web mail accounts or specific domain based email. The Windows Live Mail supports IMAP or POP mail.

Another interesting component to the new Live Suite is Skydrive. Skydrive gives you 1 Gigabyte of online storage, similar to how you might use a portable USB drive. You can password protect the files or encrypt them for security, and then retrieve them later when needed. You could store a Power Point presentation or a spreadsheet online in Skydrive then retrieve them any where at an remote location with an Internet connection.

Overall Windows Live improves the standard computing experience with Windows XP or Vista. The new mail application allows you to increase you Hotmail account to 5 gigabytes, and you can convert your old Hotmail address to a Live.com if you prefer. The mail application is an improvement over the standard mail applications Vista and XP ship with, without having to go to Outlook, which is just to much for some of us, who aren't tied to it at work. Download it for free and give it a try at http://www.windowslive.com/

Technorati Tags: windows live,Vista Xp

Vista is a disaster?

I was reading an article in the latest issue of Cpu. Magazine. The authors point was basically that Vista has been a disaster. No one wants it or needs it. Okay it seems that many people with-older hardware, peripherals, or older software applications have had problems with Vista. He also points out Vista is an resource hog.

So the question is, is it worth it?

I run Vista on several machines, all run dual core processors, and each has at least 2 gigs of ram. The new dual and quad core processors available today easily run Vista with a great user experience. DDR2 ram is very inexpensive now, running 2 gigs or more of ram is very cheap. A home built system with the lower end core 2 Intel processor with 2 gigs of ram and a reasonably priced video card can be put together for under $600. Unless you need a computer for extremely high end graphics rendering or high end gaming, a modest computer will give the end user a very nice computing experience with Vista.

One thing can't be argued, Vista is far more secure than XP ever was. Drivers and other software are no longer written to the kernel, this fundamental change makes crashes much less unlikely. The User Account Control or UAC has taken a large amount of the criticism. Having used Mac OSX and several Linux distros, Vista didn't seem to be much more intrusive than these Unix based systems which asks you for a administrative password whenever you install a new program or modify the system in a major way.
One of the major complaints heard about Vista is the lack of compatibility with older hardware. My 3 year old printer works great 1st time, every time, as do all my peripherals.

Unlike XP you can and should operate as a limited user with Vista. Programs can be run or installed with administrative rights safely without having to log out of the regular users account, unlike XP.

Seems some of the high tech mavens have forgotten the nightmare pre-service pack 2 XP was. The firewall was off by default, and difficult to find. You had to buy a 3rd party firewall at the store and install it before you could safely go online. Without the firewall you had the blaster worm before there was time to download the patch. Not to mention many of the gamers were complaining about what an resource hog XP was compared to 98, many didn't switch to XP for a year or two.

So, in short, for me Vista has been stable, and reliable. The new photo gallery and media center work great. I use the sidebar to track my stocks and keep a short term to-do list where I can see it.
Vista certainly has some warts though. Having 5 different versions, not counting all the different combinations of OEM or upgrade licenses is absurd. Just give us 1 version, or maybe a home (Ultimate) and Enterprise for businesses and be done with it. Paying $200.00 for the full Ultimate version would be fine, but $399.00 is ridiculous. And just get rid of Windows Genuine Advantage. Apple has it right with their OS upgrades, $129.00 is reasonable and well worth the price for most versions they deliver. If the price was reasonable less people would pirate and you wouldn't put your users through the activation nonsense.

New Zune 8gb review

I recently bought the new Zune flash player it's the 8 gb model and gave it a quick once over. So far the player appears to be a solid competitor to the ipod nano. The first thing you notice when trying out some of the pre-loaded content is the outstanding video quality. The screen is a bit smaller than the nano (1.8 inches vs 2.0) but the clarity of the picture seems a little better. That's a subjective observation and could change in time. The sound quality with the same bit rate song ripped from the same cd sounded slightly better on the zune, again a totally subjective observation. I should note that neither in my opinion have the sound quality of the hard drive based Cowon iaudio6 a 4 gb player with the best sound quality of any mp3 player I've tried.
The interface on the zune is also excellent. The squircle? if thats whats it called was easy to learn and is only slightly less functional than the ipods click wheel. I prefer the the menu as it starts up , choosing between the various categories is easy, better for me than the ipod because the larger font make it easier for my eyes to quickly pick out a catagory, than on the ipod. That however changes quickly when a category is chosen. Individual songs are very small when trying to find your selection. The ipod however is really no better, anyone without perfect vision will strain to see what they're playing on either player.
I find the players to be basically equal head to head at this point. The wireless features of the Zune for both syncing with the Zune software and sharing with other Zunes I haven't yet had a chance to use, and I don't expect to any time soon.
The Zune does have an FM radio, a nice feature I will use in time. the ipod has an equalizer that I've never bothered to use, the Zune does not.
My own preference for the players themselves while using them out in the field and in the car would go to the Zune but not by much.
The software on the Zune is very nice. I was able to find pretty much all the podcast I was interested in and I'd say it presented the podcast in a way that I ended up trying several new podcasts that I never saw or just didn't notice in itunes. The music library seems well stocked with a great selection of artists and tracks. But there is no way this compares to itunes or the seamless way it finds your artist and then tells you what others have downloaded. I find itunes superior overall to the Zune store for overall use, and I must say the color of the Zune store is hideous, pink, what where they thinking.
Compatibility: Zune is a windows based product, period, xp service pack 2 and beyond only. Itunes I believe goes all the way back to windows 2000 and beyond and of coarse Mac os 10.2 and beyond!
Well that's my first impression I'll continue to use both my 8gb nano and the 8gb Zune for the forseeable future until I get sick of some feature in one or the other. I have a huge collection on itunes but the zune software allows for a monthly subscription service I'll try out eventually.

Leopard installation hell

A couple of weeks ago I decided to upgrade my Powerbook G4 with Leopard. I knew I was at the lower end of the hardware requirement spec. 1GB G4 processor and 768 of ram, I was just above the minimum. I decided a clean install seemed in order so I backed up my data and went to work.
I put in the disc went to disc utility and did a reformat then installed Leopard. I'd heard it was a slow process so when it took an hour and a half I wasn't to concerned. Finally the machine rebooted and I waited to do the usual registration sign in to start. I got as far as the pre login screen with the spinning wheel below the apple logo, and this was where it stayed. I waited for about half an hour and still no progress. I tried rebooting several times and this was as far as I got. So I decided something went wrong during the install. I ended up trying a fresh install 5 times. I never did get past the spinning wheel and apple logo. Finally I decided it wasn't to be and reinstalled Tiger.
After a day or so I decided to try one more time with Leopard. This time I decided to just upgrade. For some reason the install took about half the time, and worked perfectly. I've been looking around the blogs and support pages and most people end up doing a clean install when having Leopard install problems.
Well I am glad thats over, I'm enjoying the new features of Leopard and it doesn't seem to be much slower than Tiger.

Pre storm fun

Always enjoy a good rain storm especially since a below average rainfall for 2006-07 in this part of California left us pretty dry. One good storm and and we might get a coho run in time for Christmas. Went for a short bike ride, my favorite short but sweet single track, 1300 feet up and then right back down. The Titus Switchblade I ride is a few years old but climbs and descends better than any bike I've tried.
Tried installing a beta version of Office 2008 for mac on my old Powerbook G4 running Leopard. It runs but it's sooo slow. Beta releases are always a crap shoot, this one looks nice but it's very buggy, definitely not for production. I prefer Office 2007 on Windows I love the ease of use, for me the ribbon works, although some people hate it.
Mulled over the idea downloading RC of service pack 1 for Vista. Think I'll pass,I'm having 0 problems with the OS as it stands. Looking forward to the final release. On the Extreme tech podcast( http://www.extremetech.com/)someone mentioned that most of the service pack will not be, re-releases of updates already pushed by widows update. But have new features, a modification of UAC to lessen the steps in some cases from 4 to 1 "allows". I think Vista is an awesome OS, not without its glitches but all my hardware has always worked, it seldom crashes a program and runs fast and stable.
So much for conventional wisdow.