Those of you who know me personally know that I am a very big advocate for computing and allowing the computer to do things for the end user they could not do as well by themselves. But computing is a double-edged sword. Computing enables one to utilize the wealth of information on the Internet, for example, but it comes at a tremendous price. Without careful safeguards one can unknowingly become vulnerable to a variety of problems not the least of which are computer viruses and spyware. In recent years the creators of viruses and spyware have become increasingly clever, utilizing several well-known security breaches in Microsoft software to take over functionality and control of a victim's computer or to hack into the computer and steal account information that could, potentially, cost them thousands of dollars or more. In some cases keystrokes can be collected to determine passwords to online bank accounts or other private websites. It is a nightmare that has been dealt with by Microsoft by sending out copious "hot fixes" on their website to close up huge security holes as well as beefing up security in their latest releases (Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista as well as Internet Explorer 7.0). With known Microsoft security vulnerabilities exposed to the three biggest research teams at Norton's Symantec, McAfee, and Trend Micro companies, fewer and fewer viruses have been successful in taking advantage of these vulnerabilities. However, the same cannot be said for spyware, which has plagued computer end-users for some time now. My recommendation to everyone who uses Microsoft products is to download the latest updates from Microsoft.com and to consider allowing automatic updates on all products except for servers. Unless you are a computer expert, don't try to pick and choose what updates you need. It is probably not a bad idea to download the latest updates for your Microsoft Office product too, but that is a judgment call. As to spyware, there are several commercial products that are available. Some, like Symantec's Norton or McAfee will take over so many of the computer's CPU cycles that the computer's responsiveness is sluggish at best and pop ups asking whether to allow an executable or to access the Internet are constantly surfacing. Windows Vista is almost anal retentive in the way it questions the end user about everything. The good news is that there are alternative spyware software that are available for free or as shareware where you are asked to donate to the creator of the program if you find it of value. Grisoft's AVG Anti-virus 7.5 free edition and AVG Anti-Spyware's free edition are superior products that afford great protection with minimal invasion. And then there's that word "free." Also, for spyware protection, the newly-improved Spybot Search and Destroy 7.5 version is now out and offers good protection as well. While Spybot Search and Destroy is only launched manually, it can be executed and minimized while doing other work without any significant reduction in CPU cycling. As a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, I am not an employee of Microsoft and do not advocate for them. Nevertheless, I don't pull punches either. While the response to Bill Gates' dictum a few years ago about security has been good, one has to wonder why Apple has so few threats detected each year and why their operating systems have been significantly free from intrusion. Some would suggest that there are fewer Apples out there and they would be right about that. But I think there's more to it than just that.
Answer to pet peeve (from the other day): Yes, Mozilla's Firefox browser navigates through the Microsoft Office download site much better than Microsoft's own Internet Explorer 7.0. I found the same problem exists on Internet Explorer 6.0 too. So, if you need to download a trial version of Microsoft Office 2007 products, you should use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. Do you think someone should be notifying Microsoft about this?
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