Ron

Posts tagged with "Download"

We're Back...

Sunday, 19. February 2006, 06:08:14

It's been a long hiatus. Not sure if we're up to the daily chore of a weblog but here goes the next effort...

Someone asked about the Anti-Virus software I use.

I've tried 'em all over the years. McAfee was the first in the early 90's then Fprot. Norton slowed my system down but I used it 'til recently (last year). AVG Free Edition seems to work best for me. I'm willing to pay a reasonable price for AV software that works, but I don't see any advantage in the AVG paid edition over the AVG free edition for my home computer.

No system is 100% defended from virus/spyware/adware/trojan/malware attacks. I am presently using AVG, AdAware, Spybot S&D, Windows Defender, Rootkit Revealer, HijackThis, KL-Detector (for key loggers), Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer, Microsoft Malware Removal Tool-V1.13, and SpywareBlaster v3.5.1 . Copy any of these into Google to find the download.

A few weeks ago I got a virus; even with all this protection (I've since stopped bragging about my invulnerable system). It denied me internet access by hijacking my browser (IE6 - I've since intalled IE7 beta). Only solution -- reinstall the Windows operating system -- the most important part of any anti-virus plan. Backup, backup, backup. DISASTER RECOVERY!

Fortunatly, I use Windows ntbackup.exe daily and Norton Ghost weekly and an external hard drive for backup. I was able to restore my system to the state it was in the week before the attack. I lost a few MS Money transactions and a few e-mails. The MS Money transactions were quickly restored from my online account at my Credit Union. The e-mails were lost.

I have since added a USB Jump drive for daily backups of MS Money and Outlook Express. I carry the Jump Drive on my keychain.

Can we ever be safe from viruses or malware? Probably not - no matter what anti-virus software we use. Can we prevent a disaster? Yup. Backup.

No comments

Security Alert

Friday, 6. January 2006, 05:23:59

quotes, Google, Windows, Microsoft ...

Microsoft Releases WMF Patch Early

Yesterday Microsoft released a patch which fixes the WMF vulnerability. This vulnerability affects all applications that display graphics in the Windows operating system. Such applications include Office, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera.

Microsoft originally planned to release the update on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006, as part of its regular monthly release of security bulletins. In our opinion the early release is due to the seriousness of the threat.

If you use Automatic Updates you will receive the update automatically and do not need to take any additional actions. You can also manually download and deploy the update by visiting Microsoft Update or Windows Update. You can get more information at Microsoft's Security At Home Web site.

CERT Alert

Women are catching up to men in most measures of online life

The Pew Internet Project has recently released a new report on how men and women use the Internet. You can find the full report at: http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/171/report_display.asp

The percentage of women using the internet still lags slightly behind the percentage of men. Women under 30 and black women outpace their male peers. However, older women trail dramatically behind older men.

*68% of men are internet users, compared with 66% of women. Because they make up more of the population, the total number of women online is now slightly larger than the number of men.
*86% of women ages 18-29 are online, compared with 80% of men that age.
*34% of men age 65 and older are online, compared with 21% of women that age.
*60% of black women are online, compared with 50% of black men.

Did You Know? Atlanta has it's own search engine.

It's a site for shopping for businesses and professional services in the Atlanta metro area. The site, Kudzu.com, allows users to review businesses so that you can read other's experiences. It also lists the search results by distance from your address.

Kudzu.com is a venture owned and operated by Cox Search LLC, a subsidiary of Atlanta's Cox Enterprises. If you go to the site you'll see that Cox has it's own Kona coffee. Cewl.

Q U O T E :

"I hear they're coming out with a robot that will cook hamburgers, too. Let's spread that rumor — there's nothing they can't do."
-- Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates commenting on Google's first CES keynote address.

Bill Gates Keynote address - Live Coverage (Engadget)

Watch the keynote

Happy New Day,
Ron

No comments

Widows Live

Thursday, 5. January 2006, 05:09:17

web, blog, Software, technology ...

Life is slowly getting back to post-holidays normal for this semi-retired old man. Yesterday I went to work at 10:30a and got home at 1:30p. Ate lunch and took a nap. Couldn't be sweeter. Hope you've got a good retirement plan in place. 401K? Roth IRA? Rich uncle? Let us know what your plan is.

Microsoft is offering a bunch of new software and services called Live. which are worth checking out. They are all in beta, so you'll have to sign up or log in as a beta tester using your .NET passport (same as your Hotmail logon). If you're not already a beta user click on the "Beta users sign in here" link in the upper right-hand corner of the site and sign up. If you don't already have a .NET passport just go to Hotmail and sign up.

Here's an exerpt from the Live site:

What is Windows Live ^TM
Your online world gets better when everything works simply and effortlessly together. That's the basic idea behind Windows Live. So the things you care about - your friends, the latest information, your e-mails, powerful search, your PC files, everything – comes together in one place. This is a brand new Internet experience designed to put you in control. And this is just the beginning – you'll see many more new services in the coming months.

There's over a dozen of 'em to try. I've already tried a couple and they're pretty good. Try 'em out and let us know what you think. I'll try them all and post reviews here when and if I can. This blog stuff is pretty new to me so I don't know if it'll last or if I'll last... hehe.

Link: Windows Live

Speaking of "this blog stuff", so far it has been a chore. Maybe I'll learn some tricks and shortcuts but it's been very time consuming. Then again, time is what I have plenty of (short term).

Happy New Day,
Ron

No comments