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July 17, 2010

Can You Really Watch Free TV on Your PC?   By Ira Wilsker 

WEBSITES:

http://toolbar.tv-fox.com

http://www.watch-live-online.tv  (Live TV)

http://www.hulu.com

          You may have seen ads on the internet or on TV that tell you that you can watch free TV on the internet, and that you do not need cable or satellite to watch thousands of TV channels.  Some even go as far as to say that you should cancel your cable or satellite, and use the free services, rather than paying for expensive TV service.  Several others advertise software or hardware devices (for a fee) that allow you to watch hundreds of TV channels online for free.  There are even websites that allow you watch TV in your browser or on your desktop, either for free, or for a subscription fee.  While these offers are generally real, they should not be confused with the selection of channels available on your local cable system or satellite service as they generally do not offer the major commercial channels, and rarely offer the major local channels.  Some services, generally located overseas, offer illegally pirated feeds for a fee, and should always be avoided.  Other services, such as the well respected Hulu (hulu.com) legitimately offer thousands of already broadcast and older TV shows and movies provided by the networks and movie studios that are either advertiser supported (for free), or without commercials (by subscription, sometimes for a fee).

          One service that I frequently use is TV-Fox, or its sister product, LIVE TV.   The selection of channels on LIVE TV is virtually identical to those on TV-Fox.  Alternatively, for those who do not want to download a toolbar or plug-in, these same channels can be viewed directly online at watch-live-online.tv.  It may be necessary to have Windows Media Player (or some similar compatible player) installed to view these stations.  Most of the stations can either be viewed in a small window, or opened to full screen by double clicking on the video.

          TV-Fox is a free plug-in for the Firefox browser (toolbar.tv-fox.com), and currently offers "2780 Live TV Channels sorted by country & category,  the TV-FOX allows you to watch thousands of  TV channels freely available on the internet."  It is installed as a short toolbar, and includes a pair of directories that display the available channels.  The first icon (purple) opens a directory containing a listing of about 100 countries; moving the mouse cursor over the country displays the currently available TV stations that stream online.  If the selected station has a circle icon with a right arrow (triangle), that indicates that the selected station is always online; if the icon is a small clock, that means that the station is only available for specific hours.  The viewer should be aware of the time differences around the world, as what is prime time in the mid-east, for example, may be the early morning here.  While I enjoy watching live foreign TV, I am not capable of understanding all of the languages, so I prefer the English language stations available in many of the countries listed.  Under the listing for the United States is approximately 60 stations, all but a few being broadcast in English.  These US based stations include such well known stations as Bloomberg Business, CBN, CNBC, Home Shopping Network (HSN), Fox News, MSNBC, NASA, NBC News, and several prominent local stations from a variety of cities.

          The second icon (green) on the TV-Fox toolbar opens a directory based on genre'.  Categories include sports, news, business, music, kids, lifestyle, government, religious, education, shopping and weather, as well as a listing of about 50 live web-cams from around the world.  Personally, I am a news and information junkie, and spend significant time on the news listing, which has live news feeds from about three dozen news sources from about 20 different countries, many of which are in English.  Sports fanatics may enjoy the sports selection, consisting of 28 stations from about a dozen countries.  While I may not understand the announcer on many of these sports stations, the live or recorded sports events are often quite understandable to the viewer.  Music fans would appreciate the almost 50 TV stations that stream music.  While many of the music stations are from France, Italy, Poland, and India, the viewer will almost always find music of interest.  I have found that many of the foreign music stations which play their native music are very intriguing and entertaining.

          Investing and business is of universal interest, and TV-Fox offers 19 business channels, including Bloomberg-UK, Bloomberg-Asia, and Bloomberg-USA.  Those stations, along with CNBC and NBR can provide business and economic information for the majority of investors and others interested in business.

          Sometimes we need content to entertain our children, or the child in us adults.  The kids section contains a dozen channels, three of which are American, two of which are cartoons.  My favorite kids channel is the "Classical Cartoons" which shows old time cartoons, many of which are from the 30's and 40's, most of which today's children would not otherwise have an opportunity to view.

          There are 22 movie channels listed, of which eight are from the US, and include sci-fi, comedy classics, thrillers, and WSTV (White Springs TV, also known as "The Golden Age of Movies Channel") which is a Florida and Oregon based network that streams old movies over satellite and on the air in about a dozen cities, as well as online.  If I feel like watching a movie stream on my computer, I can usually find something of interest on one of these movie channels.

          The two dozen religious TV channels that stream over the internet cover almost all of the world's major religions, in a variety of languages.  There are 27 educational channels available, many from major universities around the world, including Texas A&M's KAMU-TV.  Shoppers may like to see what the 22 shopping channels offer, including the six American shopping channels.  Some of the products promoted on the foreign shopping channels are very interesting, despite the frequent language barrier; the foreign sales techniques are often very entertaining as well.  The 14 weather channels, including nine American weather channels provide more weather information than most viewers can utilize.

          Sometimes it is interesting just to see a live webcam from some notable location.  The live webcams available on TV-Fox include such diverse places as Times Square (NYC), the Hogs Breath Saloon in Florida, France, Germany, Kathmandu (Nepal), Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, and other US locations.

          While not a complete substitute for local TV and the domestic cable and satellite services, there is enough free TV available online to entertain and inform almost everybody.

July 17, 2010

Free Utilities from CPUID Describe System Details by Ira Wilsker 

WEBSITES:

http://www.cpuid.com

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares.html 

          As regular readers of this column know, I am a fan of utilities, especially if they are free!  Frequently, situations arise where it is necessary to know the details of a computer, including specifics about its software, hardware, drivers, and other components in order to diagnose a problem and make recommendations.  There are several fine utilities that can perform these functions, but several that I have been using recently come from the historical city of Dunkerque, France, courtesy of their publisher CPUID Software.

          CPUID software is best known for its namesake product, CPUID, which is as it says, a utility to identify the details of the CPU chip installed in a computer.  This is often necessary to know if the computer is being benchmarked (performance measured), upgraded, or undergoing major repairs.  The latest CPUID software is named CPU-Z, version 1.55.  This small utility displays the processor brand and model number, the type of socket it uses (necessary to know for replacement or upgrades), speeds, and other details about the CPU chip, which is the central "brains" of the computer.  Sometimes it is desirable or necessary to replace a motherboard, or determine the BIOS on the motherboard.  The motherboard is the central platform on which most of the other internal components are either directly attached to, or otherwise connected to, and provides much of the internal communication between the components.  While generally very reliable and long lived, sometimes it is necessary to replace a motherboard.  The BIOS, an acronym for "Basic Input - Output System" is typically attached to the motherboard, and contains the first code run by a PC when it is initially powered on.  The BIOS identifies and initializes the video card, keyboard, mouse, hard drive, CD/DVD drive, and other key components.  The BIOS contains software in a non-volatile ROM chip, and is typically firmly attached to the motherboard.  Most BIOS chips can be updated and upgraded with software provided either by the BIOS manufacturer, motherboard maker, or computer manufacturer.  CPU-Z identifies the brand of BIOS, the version of its software, and the date of the software stored in it; with this information, it is somewhat easy to determine if the BIOS contains the latest software.  Keeping the BIOS updated is not a critical task if everything appears to be working OK, but for those of us always trying to tweak our computers and capitalize in the latest offerings, this is good information to have.  One warning is appropriate here; if the user is considering updating the BIOS, be absolutely sure to explicitly follow the manufacturer's directions to the letter!  In a worst case scenario, failure to do so will result in an expensive paperweight, but in many cases, there is a procedure to "roll back" or restore the BIOS to its earlier status.

          When I ask people how much memory they have in their computer, they are often clueless, or erroneously confuse the memory with the storage capacity of their hard drives.  Clicking on the "Memory" tab of CPU-Z displays the type of memory, the amount of memory, speed, and other characteristics.  The "SPD" tap allows the user to cycle through the memory stick installed in his computer, displaying the capacity of each stick, the type, manufacturer, part number, and other information.  This information may be necessary if the user wants to add or replace memory in the computer.

          The "Graphics" tab displays information about the display device, including the brand, model number, chipset, speed, and memory.  Since the video card makers often release updates, enhancements, and new features, this information could be very useful.

          CPUID also publishes several other utilities, and another one that I found useful is PC Wizard 2010.  PC Wizard was first published in 1996, and is considered one of the most comprehensive system information utilities available.  Since the hardware industry is very dynamic, with new hardware being introduced on a daily basis, PC Wizard is frequently updated, typically monthly.  In addition to identifying and displaying the details of the hardware and software on the computer, PC Wizard can also benchmark the performance of the individual computer components, as well as the entire computer.  By noting which components and software are the performance laggards, the user can then determine what, if any, practical solutions may improve performance.  PC Wizard utilizes a series of icons representing each of the components or software titles installed on the computer, and can determine the hardware, configuration, system files, and resources used by the computer.  The benchmark selection can test and display the performance of the entire computer, the CPU (processor chip), memory, video, hard drive, external storage devices (like CD/DVD and USB drives), and other hardware components.  In addition to displaying the performance of the hardware itself, a "Compare Results" shows how the user's computer compares to others.  The results are also displayed and announced (audio) using the wizard avatar and voice synthesis similar to the "Vox Proxy" PowerPoint accessory.  PC Wizard provides the user with a wealth of information.

          While CPUID has several utilities available for free download, one of those that I also found very useful is HWMonitor, which is a shortened "Hardware Monitor".  This utility is also available in an enhanced commercial version, HWMonitor Pro, which adds additional features and functionality.  HWMonitor (the free version) can identify the power supply in the computer, and display the real-time voltages, temperatures, and fans in the power supply.  This is important to monitor the health of the power supply, and consider a replacement or upgrade if necessary.  Many users are unaware that their computers report the temperatures of various components in the computer, which is important in that heat is one of the big killers of components.  Being somewhat colonial, I selected to display the temperatures in Fahrenheit (F) rather than Celsius (C).   Usually there are some fans in each computer which are critical in exhausting the heat from the components, and bring in cool outside air.  HWMonitor tracks and reports the performance of the fans, which can enable the user to easily and quickly see if a fan is failing; a dead fan can lead to overheating and damage or destruction of the computer's components.  This utility can also track and report on the temperatures of the motherboard, CPU chip, video card, and hard drive.

          Most of these utilities are available for 32 and 64 bit Windows PCs using recent versions of Windows such as XP, Vista, and Windows 7, although some of the utilities also have builds that are explicitly for Windows 98.  The files are relatively small and fast to download, and consume minimal system resources, such that they do not noticeably degrade system performance.  These utilities could be a useful asset to anyone who wants to keep up with the performance, condition, and health of his system. 

July 10, 2010

Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Anti-Malware Protection by Ira Wilsker 

WEBSITE:

http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials 

            I recently encountered a situation where one of my computers was unable to load a new beta (pre-release) version of one of the popular security software suites that I was beta testing. The purpose of beta testing is to find serious bugs and other problems before the software is officially released.  I have been a beta tester for dozens of titles over the years, and am fully cognizant of the problems and risks of beta testing. While the  software publisher's beta support team has not yet resolved my issue, which was repeatable, this particular computer was now lacking any security software, and was at risk while performing normal online and offline tasks.  I could have reinstalled my previous security suite, which has proven itself as reliable and effective, but I decided that this would be a good opportunity to try something new.  There are a lot of security utilities available, both commercial and free, so I decided to try one of the few free products that I had not tried on one of my personal computers.  I decided to try Microsoft's Security Essentials.

            Microsoft had sold online and through retail channels its previous security product, Windows Live OneCare, which was met with mixed reviews regarding its level of protection and performance.  In late 2008 Microsoft announced that it would discontinue Windows Live OneCare on June 30, 2009, and replace it with a new offering code named "Morro".  "Morro" was released in its final version in 2009 for free distribution and download as Microsoft Security Essentials.  This product is available for download directly from Microsoft at www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials.  As is common with almost all other Microsoft services, Microsoft will digitally determine the validity of the Windows installed on the computer before allowing the download; this process only takes a few seconds.  Security Essentials will run on almost any Windows computer with a genuine copy of XP (Service Pack 2 or SP3), Vista (Service Pack 1 of SP2), or Windows 7.  Versions are available for either 32 bit or 64 bit operating systems.  Since Security Essentials is an integrated anti-malware product that protects from both viruses and spyware, it will disable Windows Defender (Microsoft's dedicated anti-spyware utility) if Defender is already installed on the computer.  Unlike other competitive security suites, Security Essentials does not include a firewall, but instead activates Window's integral firewall, and works with it.  Also, since this is an "Essentials" utility that only provides malware protection, it does not include most of the other enhancements incorporated into the commercial products, such as anti-spam, website protection, and other tools.  Security Essentials is ICSA Labs certified, and has been awarded the VB 100 Virus label, meaning that it detected 100% of the threats in a standardized testing environment.  This is important as it indicates that Security Essentials does an acceptable job in protecting systems from malware.

            Downloading Security Essentials directly from Microsoft was very fast, the 64 bit version only being about 7mb in size.  Installing it was simple, but it did recognize that I had some other security software on the computer, and directed me to uninstall the other software before installing it.  Once I uninstalled the other security software that it identified, Security Essentials installed very quickly, and did not present any complicated configuration questions.  After installing the program, it asked to perform an update, and then completed a quick scan of my hard drive.  The scan was very fast, among the quickest that I have experienced, a plus for Security Essentials.

            The interface for Security Essentials is clean, with few options available.  The "Home" screen shows if the real-time protection is on, and if the signature files are up to date.  Also on the Home screen are buttons for a quick, full or custom scan.  The "Update" screen shows the date and time that the definitions were created, as well as virus definition and spyware definition version numbers.  The "History" screen shows threats that were detected, quarantined, or allowed.  Under the "Settings" tab, the screen shows the scheduled scans, file exclusions, some simple "Advanced" settings, and an ominous selection "Microsoft SpyNet".  Microsoft SpyNet is an online community that helps the user respond to threats.  By default, Security Essentials sends basic information to Microsoft about any possible malware that was detected.  One interesting statement on the SpyNet setting says, "In some instances, personal information might unintentionally be sent to Microsoft.  Microsoft will not use this information to identify you or to contact you."  The "Advanced membership" is basically the same, but sends additional software information to Microsoft. 

            One setting that is missing in Security Essentials that is on almost all other security products, is some type of setting to determine how often the software should "phone home" to check for updates.  Microsoft says that it automatically updates, but does not indicate any standardized frequency of updates.  My former security suite by default checked for updates every hour, and another product that I have used "pushes" almost continuous updates to the user, keeping them reasonable up to date.  By contrast, Security Essentials has an apparently unpredictable update pattern, such that today I received a warning on the task bar icon, which flashed red; clicking on the icon told me that my definition files (virus signature files) may be out of date.  Looking at the "Update" tab on the program showed that my files were two days out of date, so I manually updated the software by clicking on the "update" button.  The update was quickly downloaded and installed, but it was interesting to note that the time stamp on the latest update was about six hours old.  As I type this, the "Update" screen shows that my definitions are over 10 hours old, so I just clicked on the update button again; Security essentials duly checked for an update, and reported that my software is up to date, but still shows the 10 hour old definitions as being the latest.  Several years ago, daily updates were the industry norm, but today, with thousands of new threats appearing daily, infrequent updates may indicate a potential weakness in system defenses, as competitive software would have already been updated several times today.

            One very pleasant surprise with Security Essentials is how fast it loads at boot, and how little it degrades system performance.  I use a software utility called Soluto to monitor and control my boot process; using my prior security suite, boot time was about 100 seconds, but with Security Essentials, my computer is booting in about 50 seconds, or twice as fast!  Likewise, programs seem to load much faster with Security Essentials than my previous product, and browser performance is greatly improved as well, with web pages loading much faster.  This may be explained by the fact that since Security Essentials is precisely what its name implies, only the basic essentials load;  other overhead is not loading and running like the more comprehensive competitive security suites.

            It is up to the user to decide if the minimal but adequate protection provided by the free Microsoft Security Essentials is worth the significant improvements in performance that it allows. Since my personal choice is to have increased protection, even at the cost of some performance degradation, I will go back to my favorite comprehensive commercial suite as soon as the beta issues are resolved, or the final version is released.  Still, in the meantime, I will stay with Microsoft Security Essentials until that time.

July 3, 2010

WolframAlpha - Computational Knowledge Engine by Ira Wilsker 
WEBSITES:
http://www.wolframalpha.com
http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/
http://www.wolframalpha.com/screencast/introducingwolframalpha.html
http://www.wolframalpha.com/about.html
http://www.wolframalpha.com/downloads.html
 
            We are all familiar with the common search engines, such as Google, Bing, AllTheWeb, and Yahoo.  There are hundreds, if not thousands, of search engines, and they all pretty much provide somewhat the same information.  Last year Microsoft introduced Bing,  its latest search engine iteration, which also had some decision making capabilities and built-in intelligence.  Microsoft used its power and wealth to inundate the computing world with information and promotional materials about Bing in an attempt to steal market share from Google and the other major search engine providers.  At about the same time (May 15, 2009), a much smaller company, Wolfram Research, the publisher of the Mathematica software, introduced its computational knowledge engine WolframAlpha.
            WolframAlpha is not a traditional search engine that displays listings of web links, but instead displays the answer to a question, formula, or other inquiry.  For example, if I type "Beaumont  Texas" in Google, I am presented with a listing of nearly 7 million web links containing the term "Beaumont Texas", with some rank ordering placing the most popular results near the top of the display.  If I type "Beaumont Texas" in the search box on WolframAlpha ( www.wolframalpha.com), it directly displays the facts about the topic.  In this case, WolframAlpha displayed the population, map, current local time and weather, cost of living index, median home price, unemployment rate, sale tax rate, crime rate, commute time, geographic information, links to the county and nearby cities, and a hyperlinked list of famous people born in Beaumont.
            WolframAlpha displays a lot more than just text, as it is a powerful computational engine.  There is an entire menu consisting of hundreds of sample inquiry topics at www.wolframalpha.com/examples, and some other suggestions in the margins of several of the pages that the user can utilize to practice on the system, and master some of its powerful features.  One of the suggested sample ideas is to enter the user's date of birth; I entered mine and was presented with a lot of information about my birthday.  The results showed my age in years, weeks, and days; holidays and observances that are held on my birthday;  historical events that occurred on that day (not necessarily in the same year) and a listing of celebrity and historical figures who were born or died on that day.  Other information is displayed about the selected date, including the moon phase on the day I was born.  By entering one or more stock symbols, a wealth of information is displayed.  As a test, I entered the symbol "VZ" for Verizon, and was presented with current price information, financial fundamentals, dividend and yield, historical returns, a large variety of charts, performance comparisons between Verizon and it competitors, histograms, and other detailed information about the company.
            WolframAlpha is one of the handiest and most informative calculators available.  Using the example "$250 + 15%" displays both the result ($287.50) and how it was calculated; this could be a great tool for teaching basic arithmetic.  Mathematical formulae are computed with ease, displaying detailed results of the computation.  Using the digital term " x^2 sin(x)" (x squared times sine of x) displays graphical plots on various scales, alternate forms of the mathematical expression, roots, derivatives, and other functions.
            Math and simple facts are not the only computational capabilities of this excellent service; it also has hundreds of other forms of information that can be calculated and displayed.  Other areas in which WolframAlpha can provide extensive information are statistics and data analysis, physics, chemistry, engineering, astronomy, earth and life sciences, money and finance, dates and times, places and geography, socioeconomic data, weather, health and medicine, food and nutrition, sports and games, music, and many other topics.  Users of my weather page sometimes ask me for historical weather information, usually for a specific date and location; as a default, WolframAlpha uses the location of the computer requesting the information, which is in my case, Beaumont.  I simply entered "weather summer 2008" (for other locations enter the city or other geographic information), and was presented with time and temperature ranges, humidity, graphs showing meteorological information, and information about the weather stations that gathered the information presented.  I picked this particular search to display the effects of Hurricane Ike, such as the wind speed and barometric pressure, which conspicuously stand out on the graphs.  Using the hurricane template under the topics menu, the user is presented with detailed information on a particular storm, wind speeds, and comparisons.  Using the comparison feature, I compared Rita to Ike by entering the search term, "Hurricane Ike, Hurricane Rita", and was presented with a table comparing those two local disasters.  Rita was the stronger storm, but according to the composite tracking chart displayed, both had nearly identical tracks.

            The amount of computational knowledge available from WolframAlpha is almost endless.  If the user needs to calculate monthly payments and an amortization table, this can do it.  If an investor needs commodity and futures prices, WolframAlpha provides that information in detail.  Mortgage terms can be directly compared; by searching with the expression, "mortgage $150,000, 6.5%, 30 years" produces charts and graphs that display the monthly payments, graphical comparison of principle and interest over time, and other information.  Present values, currency conversions, bond evaluations, different forms of options and derivatives, salaries, wages, income taxes, sales taxes, and historical financial information are easy to determine with WolframAlpha.  In the economics classes that I teach every semester, the students are asked to calculate what has happened to prices over their lifetimes, and what may happen to prices when they are ready to retire.  Using this engine the students can instantly calculate the current value of a historical quantity of money ($1000 in 1965 is worth what today?), compute historical equivalent value of today's money ($1000 today compared to 1980), and convert one historical quantity of money to another ($1000 in 1945 was worth what in 1990?).

            While WolframAlpha is accessible from any internet browser, it is also accessible using other means, without a browser, or as a browser plug-in to automate the computational process.  From the website at wolframalpha.com/downloads.html, the user can put a gadget, widget, or deskband on his desktop (Mac OS X, Vista and Windows 7) to enable him to access information directly from his desktop.  WolframAlpha toolbars are available for Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox which enable searching from the browser toolbar.  Firefox and IE8 users can add WolframAlpha as a search engine add-on, automating the search function from the browser menu.  Apps (applications) are available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch that enable users of those devices to directly access the capacity of this service.  Regardless of how accessed, the massive capabilities of WolframAlpha are readily available.

            Now that I have had some experience with WolframAlpha, I will be more likely to use it to acquire information and calculate data, and less likely to use the traditional search engines such as Google when I need to find something.  WolframAlpha is one of those services that I did not originally know that I needed, but now I cannot do without it.

June 26, 2010

Sorry, The Examiner did not publish Ira's article this week. Please look for it next week (July 3)

June 19, 2010

Microsoft Offers Free Online Version of Office by Ira Wilsker 

WEBSITE:  http://www.live.com  (Click on "Office") 

     In the over 10 years I have been writing this weekly column I have used the Microsoft Word installed on my desktop computer for all but a handful of the columns. There were a few columns I wrote while using Open Office as a topic of the column; one column was typed using Google Docs and saved as a Word file to send to my editor.  Today I am using Microsoft's recently released Word Web App, which is one of the several Office utilities now available for free at www.live.com.   Since these applications are online, they can be accessed from anywhere the user has internet access, and are utilized in a browser window.

     From the live.com webpage, the office applications can be utilized by clicking on the "Office" link at the top of the page.  Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote are currently available.  Registration is required in order to use the Microsoft Live utilities, but registration is fast and free.   For those users who may need access to the primary components of Microsoft Office, but do not have it installed on their computers, this service from Live is a viable alternative.

      I started by using Live's Word Web App to type this column.  The "ribbon" or menu at the top of  the browser window is reminiscent of the one in Word 2007, but does not have quite as many choices as the full version of Word 2007 on my computer.  While all of the major functions are available, many of the enhancements and "bells and whistles" are not available on the web version.   The top line menu choices are "File", "Home", "Insert", and "View".  Above the ribbon are small icons to save and undo.   Clicking on the "File" tab  gives the user choices to open, save, share, close, properties, feedback, and privacy.   As I am typing this, I am periodically saving the file in the default .docx (Word 2007) format to Microsoft's SkyDrive, which is Microsoft's server sometimes referred to as "in the cloud".  Once saved to the SkyDrive, I can access this file from anywhere.

      The default tab on the Word Web App is "Home" which displays the simplified Word 2007 ribbon (menu) with the ubiquitous copy, paste, fonts, formatting, spell check, and another feature which is not in the computer based version of Word, "Open in Word".  This "Open in Word" will connect to the Word installed on the computer, and open the document in the computer based Word, but only if a compatible browser is being used.  I am using Firefox as my browser as I type this, and clicking on the "Open in Word" icon on the ribbon displays a message that my browser is not compatible.  Another anomaly (browser incompatibility) occurred when I tried to copy some text by painting it, right clicking and going to "copy".  A window opened that said, "Your browser does not allow access to the clipboard.  Use the keyboard shortcuts for cut, copy, and paste instead."  Using the keyboard commands CTRL-C allowed me to copy the text I wanted, and CTRL-V allowed me to paste it where I wanted it.  This inability to work nicely with some browsers other than Microsoft's lowers my opinions of this product; while it is not a fatal defect, I do not like the idea of being compelled to use Internet Explorer in order to utilize all of the features of the Word Web App.  The "Insert" tab on the ribbon allows the user to insert a table, picture, clip art or links.   The "View" tab  offers the user the choice of an "Editing View" and a "Reading View".  One important item missing from the menu is a "Print" button; I could not find any easy way to print a document, other than using the browser print function.

     While Word may be one of the most widely used applications, Excel and PowerPoint are also very widely used.  The online version of Excel can be accessed by clicking on the Excel icon on the Live - Office web page.   The Excel Web App  looks much like a simplified version of the full computer based version of Excel, and uses the same interface and commands.  By default, files are saved to the SkyDrive in the Excel 2007 .xlsx format.  The first thing I noticed on the Excel Web App is that the formula bar (Fx) does not pull down to display the list of available formulae.   I also found that the auto-fill functions where dates and cells could be auto-filled by clicking on the corner of a cell and dragging does not work, at least when used in Firefox.  The ribbon bar on the Excel Web App looks much like a simplified Excel 2007 menu bar, but lacks some of the choices available on the computer installed version.  As with the other Microsoft Web Apps, the spreadsheet can be shared as desired.  Also as with the Word App, the icon "Open in Excel" will generate an error.  According to the online help, none of the Web Apps will open the computer's Office if using Firefox and Office 2003 or Office 2007; Microsoft's recommended fix is to install Office 2010.  The online help also says that the 64-bit version of Internet Explorer is not supported, and that browsers other than Internet Explorer and Firefox are not supported at all.  That means that it may be difficult or impossible for the many users of Chrome, Safari, Opera, and other browsers to utilize these otherwise useful Web Apps.

      I do a lot of PowerPoint presentations, and I was especially interested to try the PowerPoint Web App.  As with the other apps, it saves in the Office 2007 formats, in this case .pptx.  The screen looks familiar, but much simplified from the full version of PowerPoint.   One item obviously missing from the ribbon (menu) is the "save" button; that is because the PowerPoint Web App automatically saves the presentation.   Another feature that is missing is the ability to right click on an image or text box in a slide to add animations or special effects.  I easily inserted an image into a slide, and was given a choice of eight picture styles or frames, but could not animate or otherwise add the special effects that I sometimes use in the full version.  Other than using some of the more sophisticated features of the full version of PowerPoint, the Web App version is adequate for simple PowerPoint presentations.

      I will admit that I do not use Microsoft's OneNote, but it is available as a Web App.  Looking much like a Word document, with the addition of a calendar line, when shared, it also shows the other authors and page versions that were accessed and modified.   OneNote also allows for images, clipart, links, and tables to be inserted, which can provide a richer user experience.  Like Word, the ribbon (menu) in OneNote allows the user to implement traditional formatting and fonts as desired.    I could see where OneNote would be useful for taking notes and sharing content.  As with PowerPoint, there is no "save" button, as OneNote documents are automatically saved.

      If the user desires to import a document or image on his computer in the appropriate Web App, the user would click on the SkyDrive link at the top of the Office page, and then "Add Files".  The user can then drag and drop files from his computer into the "Add Files" browser window, or files can be uploaded to SkyDrive by clicking on "Select documents from your computer".   Documents and other files stored on SkyDrive can be downloaded individually in native format, or all of the files can be downloaded together as a single ZIP file from SkyDrive.  I experimented with SkyDrive and the Web Apps and found that this may be a viable choice either as a primary or backup method of doing presentations or working on documents away from my home or office computer, providing there is good internet access.  Clicking on the SkyDrive "More" link allows the user to view a file's properties, or delete it from SkyDrive.

     One of the strengths of using web applications like these is the ability to work together or collaborate on projects.  By clicking on FILE - SHARE others can be authorized to  access the file.  The share choices can be controlled with a slider that ranges from "Just me" to "Some friends", "Friends", "My friends and their friends", and "Everyone (public)".  Specific people can be added to those eligible to share by name or by email address.

     While not as feature rich as the full versions of Office, the free Web Apps versions at live.com do offer a viable alternative to those who do not have Office installed on their computers, or who need a portable version of those applications.  Many users will find these Web Apps quite useful.

June 12, 2010

Soluto Anti-Frustration Software Improves Boot Time by Ira Wilsker

WEBSITES:

http://www.soluto.com

http://blog.soluto.com

http://www.soluto.com/About/Media-Kit

            In several past columns I have written about utilities that can speed up the computer boot process.  As cluttered as it was, my old XP machine could take up to five minutes to boot; my newer Windows 7-64 machine boots in under two minutes, considering the multilayered security that is installed on it.  Traditionally, the ways of speeding the boot process on a PC was to defrag the hard drive, and clean up the programs in the startup that load when the computer is first turned on.  When someone tells me that his computer takes forever to boot, my typical responses are "is your hard drive defragged" (defragmented), and "how many little icons do you have on your task bar adjacent to your clock?".   There are several excellent startup managers available (including Windows 'msconfig" feature), both independent utilities and components of utility suites, that can easily control what programs load at boot.  Simply unchecking unwanted and unnecessary programs at boot is an accepted way of improving boot time.  Likewise, there are several excellent defragmentation utilities available, including the simple one built into Windows, that can do a credible job; by defragging the hard drive, it does not have to work as hard when reading files and data, thus providing some improvement in load times.

            While these two methods are well accepted and proven to speed up the boot process, a new concept in utilities was recently released that goes an extra step in controlling the boot process using a software "genome" and community experiences to determine what is loading in the computer at boot, how long each item takes to load, displays what is required or optional to load at boot, and gives the user control of what loads and when it loads during the boot process.  Wanted, but low priority items, can be set to load after the computer has fully booted, and is sitting idle, thus not degrading the boot process.  Unwanted items can be stopped from automatically loading, but set to load upon demand.  The process may sound complex, but it is very simple with the information provided by this new utility, "Soluto Anti-Frustration Software (beta)".

            Available as a free download from www.soluto.com, this software is a "beta" or pre-release version, which by definition, is not a highly refined final "release" version.  My 18 month old "new" computer booted very quickly when new, but now that I have a lot of security software and other utilities loading at boot, it was taking between a minute and a half, and two minutes to boot.  After I downloaded and installed Soluto, and rebooted the computer such that Soluto could measure and analyze my boot process, my first modification of my boot process improved my boot time by almost 25%!  Subsequent refinements of my boot process with Soluto, and input from the "community" have helped me to shave off about another 10% of my boot time.

            After being installed, Soluto monitors what loads at each boot.  During the boot process, the bottom left corner of the desktop turns up like the corner of a page and displays each item as it is loading, while displaying the elapsed time to boot the computer.  Information is gathered during the boot process, and added to what has been gathered at previous boots, to provide the data that is analyzed by the program.  The data that is collected is anonymously added to the Soluto PC Genome, where the community can input recommendations that will assist the user in determining what can be controlled at boot.  According to Soluto, " This anonymous technical data is gathered and sent to Soluto's PC Genome, a one of a kind knowledge base containing statistical insights about PC software and hardware behavior, as well as remedies to alleviate PC usage frustrations. By putting this information into the light, the PC Genome will help consumers and vendors alike.  Soluto employs another set of innovative algorithms to determine which remedies will have a positive impact on each Soluto user's unique PC system. These remedies are then shared with other relevant Soluto users."  Soluto has found that by pausing when specific items load in the boot process, and reconfiguring some of the applications, boot time and overall behavior of the computer can improve dramatically.  Soluto can also determine those programs that degrade computer performance, and provide the "frustrated" user with possible solutions to reduce or eliminate the source of frustration.

            Soluto places a small icon on the task bar that looks somewhat like a smiley-face, and opens displaying the Soluto functions.  By opening Soluto anytime after the computer has booted, the first screen called the "Boot Page" displays "Potentially Removable" items in an orange font, along with the boot time and sequence for each.  By moving the cursor over any of the "Potentially Removable" items, a brief description of the software is displayed (if it is in the Genome).  By moving over the "more" on the display, a recommendation may be shown, as well as a pie chart of what other users of that software have done.  The user is given the option to "Pause" or "Delay" the item in subsequent boots. "Pause" prevents the item from being loaded at boot, but the program can still be loaded upon demand; "Delay" postpones the selected program from automatically loading until the computer is otherwise idle, which means that it will not slow the initial boot process.  Since Soluto (beta) has just been released, the genome is still in its infancy, and does not yet contain a comprehensive database of software.  The user can easily click on the pencil icon "edit" and open a Wiki which enables the user to "fill in the blanks" about an item, which will then be verified, and added to the Genome.  As more users complete the Wiki, the Genome database will become more complete.  As the Genome improves through this community input, all of the users can benefit by the dissemination of the information.

            The grey section of the main screen "Boot Page" in Soluto displays the "Required - cannot be removed" items that load at boot, in their boot sequence and with their boot time displayed.  While most of the items shown are valid Windows components, with an explanation of what each does along with its boot time, some of the items are non-Microsoft files, and lack detailed descriptions.  When I first used Soluto, the components of my MagicJack VoIP service (internet based telephone service) were listed as "Required", and could not be paused or delayed; I opened the Wiki and explained what they were, and then commented that I thought that these particular components should be moved to the "Potentially removable" section where their boot process could be better managed.  As the Genome grows and improves, items like this will be better sorted into the appropriate category.

            The blue section on the "Boot Page" shows the items that were "Paused' or "Delayed" at boot, and how much time was saved by not loading those items.  Clicking on any blue item gives the user the choice of changing the status to boot, "Pause" or "Delay", which will be implemented the next time the computer is booted.

            An interesting choice on the Soluto icon is "My PC just frustrated me", which opens the Soluto window, and analyzes the running processes, and tries to determine which program is causing the slowdown.  Any information found during the "frustration" analysis is anonymously added to the Genome where it will be comingled with other data and potential solutions may be determined.  If a solution to the "frustration" exists, it looks like it will be displayed to the user.  When I clicked on the "Frustration" menu item, Soluto identified the beta version of a new security product that I am testing as the potential source of "frustration" but could not yet show any remedy to my "frustration".

            While Soluto is still in the "beta" stage of development, I found it a very useful and worthwhile utility to improve PC performance, particularly in the boot process, and for resolving potential "frustrations".  Users should give Soluto Anti-Frustration Software a try.  In my limited experience with it, I would give it my recommendation, as well as a rating of "two thumbs up".

June 5, 2010

Free Utilities to Uninstall Unwanted Software by Ira Wilsker 

WEBSITES:

http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

http://www.iobit.com/advanceduninstaller.html

            Recently, in one of the computer classes I was teaching, a student volunteered that he got rid of unwanted programs by simply deleting the files and directories using Windows Explorer (file manager).  He asked if that was ok.  I politely explained that the method that he used was not ok, because improperly deleting files can leave errors in the registry, damaged file associations, and a host of other problems.  I showed him on my desktop computer that Windows has an integral function commonly called "Add or Remove Programs" that could do a credible job of properly deleting unwanted programs.  I also showed him if he clicked on START - PROGRAMS and went to the menu for his now unwanted program, there may be an entry to uninstall the program, directly from the menu.  Additionally, if he used his Windows Explorer file manager to look at the directory containing the unwanted program, there would sometimes be an executable file with the name "uninstall.exe" or "unwise.exe" in the program directory, which will start the proper uninstall process.  While these methods are at least minimally adequate, and generally safe, they do tend to leave some now useless "garbage" on the hard drive and in the registry.  After time, as more programs are installed and deleted, this buildup of obsolete and useless files and registry entries can amount to substantial wasted hard drive space, and degraded performance due to a bloated registry.

            A cottage industry has developed where programmers have developed software to more thoroughly uninstall unwanted software, better and more completely than Windows' integral Add or Remove program, and the uninstallers sometimes included with the now unwanted programs.  Many of the commercial and freeware utilities that can perform computer maintenance and cleanup tasks now include some form of uninstaller, and these are generally pretty good.  For those PC users who may like a freestanding utility that can effectively and completely uninstall an unwanted or obsolete program, there are two that I am currently using, both of which have proven themselves as capable utilities.  Both of these utilities not just delete the unwanted programs, but also scan the hard drive and registry for now useless files and entries, and allow the user to selectively and safely remove them.  The two programs that I am currently using are the freeware version of Revo Uninstaller (version 1.88), and the recently updated freeware IObit Uninstaller (version 1.1).

            The freeware version of Revo Uninstaller, available by download link at the bottom of the page at www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html is one of the most popular and highly rated uninstallers available.  While not as feature rich as its commercial big brother, it does have the ability to totally remove any unwanted programs from the computer.  The default display of Revo Uninstaller shows the icons of the programs installed on the computer.  Clicking on the icon of the unwanted program opens a "Select an Uninstall Mode" window where the user has four choices.  The first choice only executes the target program's own uninstaller, and does not do any additional scanning.  While fast, this is typically not a very complete removal of the unwanted software.  The second selection, the one that I use almost universally, is the "Safe" mode, which first runs the unwanted program's own uninstaller, and then scans the registry and hard drive to find leftover items that are safe to delete.  The "Moderate" and "Advanced" modes are slower as they perform more comprehensive scans, but sometimes find a few more items to delete.  Once a mode is selected, Revo does as instructed, creates a restore point, and uninstalls the program, followed by a registry scan and hard drive scan.  After the registry scan is completed, now obsolete entries are displayed in a bold font, with a checkbox to the left of the entry; it is generally safe to check the box adjacent to the bold entries, which will delete them from the registry.  The user generally should not check any boxes that are not adjacent to a bold entry.  After removing selected registry items, Revo scans the hard drive for now orphaned files and directories, which are displayed along with adjacent check boxes.  The user can "select all" or choose which files to delete.  Once Revo Uninstaller has completed its tasks, the unwanted program is no longer present anywhere on the computer.  Revo Uninstaller has a well-earned reputation for effectiveness and safety, and is a most viable alternative to Microsoft's anemic Add or Remove Programs utility.

            Always on the lookout for new products to try, I recently read some very positive reviews of IObit's recently released Uninstaller software, available as a free download from www.iobit.com/advanceduninstaller.html.  The interface on IObit Uninstaller is clean, and displays all of the programs installed on the computer.  A checkbox on the left of each program is used to select the program to be removed.  There are only two choices available under the "Uninstall" icon on the program toolbar, "Standard" and "Advanced".  The "Standard" selection only runs the unwanted program's own uninstall function.  The "Advanced" choice performs the more thorough uninstall, complete with registry and hard drive scans to locate and remove now obsolete entries.  Before any files are removed, IObit creates a system restore point so the system can be quickly and easily recovered if an error is made during the uninstall process.  One interesting feature on the left side of the IObit Uninstall window is the "Toolbars" icon, which displays the toolbars installed in the browsers.  Many users have too many toolbars installed on their browsers, which robs the user of valuable desktop real estate.  Many browser toolbars are redundant and offer no additional functionality, and some are actually security and privacy risks, or slow down the browser.  By checking the box adjacent to the unwanted toolbars, this software will do a fast and credible job of removing the unwanted toolbars from the browser.

            The IObit Uninstaller allows the user to "batch uninstall" where checking more than one box (selecting more than one program to uninstall) will uninstall several programs with a single click.  Another interesting feature is that the program is run as downloaded, and requires no installation.  In addition to having IObit Uninstaller on my hard drive, I now have a copy on the USB flash drive that I carry on my keychain, along with my security software.

            Either or both of these programs would be worthwhile to have on any computer, and can assure the user that any unwanted programs are safely and properly deleted from the computer.

May 29, 2010

Remove Resistant Malware Free With Bootable CDs by Ira Wilsker 

WEBSITES:

http://download.bitdefender.com/rescue_cd

http://www.free-av.com/en/tools/12/avira_antivir_rescue_system.html

http://www.f-secure.com/en_EMEA/security/tools/rescue-cd/

          In some recent columns I wrote about several free utilities that can be used to remove malware from most infected computers.  Those utilities either had to be loaded and run on the infected computer (such as Malwarebytes) or run from a USB flash drive (a-squared free USB stick files and SUPERAntispyware Portable version).  While those excellent utilities were very capable of removing almost all infections from a contaminated computer, there are some computers that are so badly infested with malware, spyware, viruses, and trojans that either nothing could be run on those computers, or, in a few cases, the computer would not even boot.  I have had users with badly infected on unbootable computers who were going to either reformat their hard drives (with the resultant loss of all of their data and files), or trash their otherwise good computers and purchase a new one.

          Prior to taking such drastic actions, the user still has another choice to kill the malware and retake control of his computer at little or no expense.  Several of the security software companies offer free software that can create a bootable CD complete with software that can detect and kill the malware, and possibly repair the computer to a bootable condition.  As a matter of practice, if this bootable CD process is successful, I routinely run two other malware killers on the newly booted computer to verify that the computer is indeed clean of malware.

          The well respected security company BitDefender offers a comprehensive free antimalware scanner "BitDefender Rescue CD " that is intended to be burned to a CD.  This utility, which is in the ISO format, can be downloaded from www.download.bitdefender.com/rescue cd.  In addition to the ISO file, there are two PDF files "HowTo.PDF" and BD_Rescue_CD.PDF" that should be opened, as they contain detailed instructions on how to properly burn the ISO file to a CD (it is not simply copied to a CD, but must be burned as an ISO image), and when to use the many utilities that will be on the bootable CD.  Since the infected computer may not be capable of downloading and burning the CD, this step should be performed on another clean computer.  Since the CD is in the Knoppix operating system (a cousin of the Linux OS), the user will need to precisely follow the instructions on the PDF files in order to disinfect the computer, and recover the Windows files.  Since the CD is not in the Windows computer language, the malware on the computer will be incapable of executing or otherwise interfering with the BitDefender Rescue CD.  The antivirus signatures used on the Rescue CD are updated automatically each time the CD is loaded.

          Once the computer is booted from the BitDefender Rescue CD, a dark red desktop will appear with icons representing the several functions available, including the Firefox browser, and an icon to update the antivirus signatures.  The logical icon to start the recovery process is appropriately labeled "Start Here".  As a safety precaution, the Rescue CD offers the ability to open the drives on the infected computer allowing for critical data files to be copied to a USB flash drive or similar device.  Since the operating system running is not Windows, the drive on the computer will not have the familiar "C:" designation, but more likely a designation something like "sda1".  Despite the difference in the drive name, files can be copied from the hard drive to the USB drive just as they are when booted into Windows.

          Once the Bit Defender Rescue CD has completed its malware scan and removed the detected malware, the CD should be closed according to the directions in the manual, removed from the CD drive, and then the computer rebooted into Windows.  Once Windows successfully boots, it would be a good idea to use one or two other free utilities, such as Malwarebytes, a-squared free, or SUPERAntispyware to confirm that the computer is indeed clean of infection.  Another point to remember is that it will likely be necessary to reinstall any antivirus software or security suite that was on the computer, as much of the malware in circulation destroys the protective software that may be on the computer.  I always have a BitDefender Rescue CD in my car, and take it with me if there is a sick computer that may need rescuing.  I have used this CD several times with a high degree of success, and can recommend it to anyone who may need to rescue a badly infected PC.

          One of the most popular free utilities that can create a bootable CD is Avira AntiVir Rescue System.  This utility, which is maintained and updated several times a day by one of the top rated security companies, when downloaded and executed, will create a bootable CD or DVD containing software that can scan the system for malware, repair system damage, and likely rescue the data on the computer.  Since the infected computer may not be in running condition, this software should be downloaded on a clean computer and burned to CD or DVD from that computer, and then used to boot the infected computer.  While the software installed to the CD is in the Linux operating system, which is bootable on a Windows machine, all of the utilities on the CD will be capable of reading and repairing a Windows system.  Since the software on the Avira website is updated several times a day, a fresh copy should be downloaded and burned to CD each time it is to be used.

          While not as capable and up to date as the other products, F-Secure offers a free Rescue CD at www.f-secure.com/en_EMEA/security/tools/rescue-cd.  Both the software to be burned to CD and an instruction manual, "Rescue CD Users Guide (PDF)" is available from this location.  The users' guide contains detailed but easy to follow instructions on how to use the bootable CD.  As with the other bootable CDs, the F-Secure Rescue CD is bootable (in Knoppix) and contains several utilities that may be able to recover a Windows computer that is not bootable.  This Rescue CD will scan the computer, and quarantine any malware that it detects; sometimes this is all that is necessary to allow the computer to boot into Windows.  This CD also allows the user to copy any desired files to a USB drive for backup purposes, a necessary function in case the Windows is so badly damaged that it is still not bootable into Windows.

          It is not necessary to be a geek in order to use any of the above utilities to create a bootable CD and recover an infected computer, but it may take some time and the ability to follow the instructions in the PDF manuals.  If a computer is heavily infested with malware, or otherwise will not boot, it may be well worth the time and effort to try one or more of these rescue and recovery CD utilities.  Blank CDs are cheap, and the time and effort to recover the damaged computer may well be worth the endeavor.

May 22, 2010

Google for Smart Phones - More Than A Search Engine by Ira Wilsker 

WEBSITES:

http://www.google.com/mobile

http://sms.google.com

www.m.google.com     (mobile phone search)

http://www.google.com/mobile/igoogle

www.igoogle.com   (mobile phone iGoogle)

http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html

http://www.youtube.com/googlevoice

www.m.google.com/voice   (mobile Google Voice)  

            I finally joined the 21st century when I recently upgraded my cell phone to a smart phone.  My old cell phone worked (and still works) very well at sending and receiving calls, basic text messaging, and even had a decent camera; a few years ago, it was almost "state of the art", and now it is approaching functional obsolescence.  My new smart phone, only a few weeks old, has broadband internet access, a larger screen, a better camera, GPS, and a host of other features that I have been experimenting with.  While it came with several "apps" or applications from the factory, I have spent hours browsing the thousands of additional apps for it, many of which are free.  So far, I have downloaded and installed a few dozen apps, most of which I may never really use.

            Some time ago, I wrote about how Google, the ubiquitous search engine, was offering cell phone users a free (no charge from Google, but your cell phone provider may charge for text messages) service where the user could send a brief text message to Google at 466453 (GOOGLE on the dialing pad) and get an immediate response to a wide variety of inquiries.  By simply sending a short text message to 466453, the user can get driving directions, flight information, weather, stock quotes, retail price comparisons, movie schedules, and many other types of current information.  Full details are online at sms.google.com.  I must admit that over the past few years, I have used this Google SMS service literally hundreds of times, often several times a day.  When it first started, this Google SMS service had a "wow!" factor for me and many others, a response that many new users still experience.  Google has not let newer technologies get away from it without capitalizing on them, and Google is now offering a plethora of new services for mobile phones.

            Many services are now offering web pages optimized for cell phone users, typically beginning with an "m." at the beginning of the web address; Google is offering its full search capabilities to mobile phone users with web access at m.google.com.  in addition to its classical web search function, Google offers mobile phone users almost all of the functionality of its other search services, including an image search, product search (including price comparisons), and current news.  Google offers users a free registration which enable the user to access additional functions customized to the user and his location, including a "My Location" service where the user can search for nearby places without typing the user's location.  I tried this service using my home zip code, which is registered with Google, and entered "restaurants" in the search box, without any other input; Google responded on my smart phone with an interactive menu of food types.  Clicking on "Chinese" presented a listing of Chinese restaurants near my house.  Google calls this its "Local Search and Directory", where any listing can be clicked, which opens a new window with details about the business including the address, phone number, website, and reviews.  Similar to the SMS service which returned movie times, the mobile web based "Movie Times" service provides information on what is playing at local theaters, as well as reviews posted by other Google users.  Sports fans will like the "Latest Results" where by simply entering the name of a sports team, current scores, news, and other information will be displayed about the selected team.

            Google also offers a free app for compatible phones, including phones with the following operating systems:  Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Nokia S60, and Windows.  The Google app will instantly add substantial functionality to the phone by providing the user with several additional services.  There are some differences in the features offered based on the phone's operating system.  One very interesting feature of the Google app is that the user can perform searches without typing anything once the app is opened, because it is fully voice operated; by simply saying the search topic, Google will display the results.  The Google app can make suggestions about local businesses as queries are being typed, search the email and contacts on the phone, and search Google maps, images, news, and shopping.  Like the web based version, the app remembers the user's location, and automates the search for local information including businesses and restaurants.  The Google app also links directly to Gmail, Calendar, Maps, and "Latitude" which is a location aware app that allows the user to track his location.  The user can decide who to share this location information with, and how much detail can be shared.  This service can determine the user's location by GPS (if the phone has GPS), or by plotting the location based on the phone signal.

            Google also offers a service it calls iGoogle, which enables the smart phone user to access highly personalized content at any time.  From the cell phone's internet browser, connecting to www.igoogle.com offers the user highly customized and personalized content including news from user selected sources, weather, movies, stock quote lists, Gmail, YouTube, a selection of games, and instant messaging.

            What I personally found most intriguing is a relatively new service from Google with the moniker Google Voice.  Currently available free for students with an .edu email address, and by invitation (online application) free to anyone in the U.S., Google Voice adds increased functionality to the cell phone itself, regardless of the operating system or brand.  It offers an integrated system including voicemail hosted by Google with customized greetings (this replaces the cell phone carriers' voicemail), voicemail transcription (voicemail is converted into text and sent by email and text message to the users' designated email and SMS message service), very low cost international long distance calling, the users' own Google provided local phone number (accessible from cell phone or landline), conference calling, call blocking and screening, and other useful functions.  Almost all smart phones can utilize Google Voice either by free app, or via the web at m.google.com/voice.  It took me less than five minutes to set up Google Voice, and I was very impressed with it.  I experimented with it first by calling my cell phone from my home phone, and leaving myself a voicemail, which was promptly transcribed, and sent to both my email address and as a text message.  It took Google less than a minute to transcribe the voice mail message and send it to both my email address and to my cell phone as a text message, including caller ID information.  The original message is still also available as a true voice mail.   One of my daughters is currently out of the country, and I will be able to phone her from my cell phone or landline very inexpensively, utilizing the Google Voice prepaid international long distance service.  The local personal number provided by Google Voice also serves a call forwarding functioning; by calling it, the caller can be connected to the user's cell phone or other designated phone, giving the Google Voice user a single phone number for all incoming services, including voicemail, international long distance, and transcription services.

            Now that smart phones and mobile web access are very common, the user should strongly consider these services from Google.  I am using them right now, and find them very useful; you will too.

May 15, 2010

Google Books - Millions of Titles Available by Ira Wilsker

WEBSITES:

http://books.google.com

http://books.google.com/googlebooks/agreement/

            Google needs no introduction here, as it has been discussed in many previous columns.  Google is much more than the ubiquitous search engine, as it now provides mapping services, email, public domain name servers, comprehensive portable online document services, and countless other benefits in a highly competitive field.  Recently, Google has been quietly entering the e-book field, where as many as a million books (mostly public domain because of expired copyrights) are currently available for free use, and countless others still under copyright will be available for a fee.  Google is not alone in providing free public domain books online in a variety of formats, and it will also not be alone in providing commercial e-books for a fee.  In terms of commercially available titles, Google will be a direct competitor to the likes of Amazon and Barnes and Noble, both of which already sell access to countless thousands of titles, mostly in proprietary formats only readable on their respective readers.

            In 2004, Google announced the "Google Books" project, an ambitious plan to digitize and post online 15 million books within 10 years.  The primary source of these books was initially libraries from all over the world, but since the announcement, many of the world's universities have volunteered their literary collections to be digitized by Google.  The stated aim of Google is to preserve library books and make them universally accessible.  Last November in an interview in the New York Times, Google co-founder Sergey Brin said, "The vast majority of books ever written are not accessible to anyone except the most tenacious researchers at premier academic libraries.  Inevitably, the few remaining copies of the books are left to deteriorate slowly or are lost to fires, floods and other disasters."  According to a recent story published by the BBC, Google has already digitized over 12 million titles, making it the largest repository of digitized books in the world.

            While Google obviously has the technology to digitize, catalog, and make available all of the books it can process, there have been some major legal obstacles to completing the project as planned.  Books published before 1923 are in the public domain as their copyrights have expired, allowing them to be freely digitized and distributed.  Books published since 1923 may still be under copyright, as the copyright would run for the author's lifetime plus 70 years.  Several organizations, including the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers have filed lawsuits against Google, which resulted in a settlement in 2008; the problem is that the settlement was never approved by the federal court because of issues raised by government regulators and others.  Last November (2009) an amended settlement was reached, but it too is being challenged, and has not been approved by the court.  Books that may still be under copyright that have already been digitized cannot be offered in their entirety by Google, but Google can include small parts of the books in its search engine.  Compounding the complexity of the issue is the fact that many of the authors and their heirs have become nearly impossible to locate in order to get the requisite permissions to enable Google to post the digitized copies.

            Despite the copyright limitations and legal restrictions on many of the books published since 1923, Google has compiled an impressive list of mostly older books that are available for free in digital format, most commonly in the universally readable PDF format.  Books digitized and published in PDF retain their original fonts, graphics, and images exactly as published.  Since PDF files can be read on almost any type of digital device, Google may have a competitive advantage over its competitors selling e-books that can only be read on their respective proprietary devices.

            During my Christmas break, I stumbled on Google Books by accident while doing personal research on some historical items.  I was amazed to find entire texts, complete with all of their pictures, on Google, and downloaded over two dozen entire books from Google.  Most of these books were published between 1880 and 1910, and most have the stamp of the New York City Public Library emblazed on the inside of the front cover, and elsewhere in the books, making their source obvious.

            I have always had a fascination for old magazines, and Google Books has helped to satiate my needs.  Google Books has a large collection of old magazines, including LIFE, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, and others available for viewing. I recently viewed a 1938 LIFE magazine (still under copyright, but available for viewing) which included stark images of the wars in Spain and China, historical facts that my current college students are oblivious to.  It is not just the news and photos of that date that are of interest to me, as the advertisements display a microcosm of the innocence of American life that is now lost forever.  I did download a PDF of the May to October 1893 edition of Popular Science (copyright expired), and found the scientific technology and writings of the day fascinating, as were the portraits of the scientists referenced; the clothing the scientists were wearing looked archaic compared to today's styles.  Some of the advertisements of 1893 were most educational, as were stories about life of the day.  One story about the homes displayed at the 1892 Columbian Exposition, honoring the 400th anniversary of Columbus discovering America, described the modernistic (circa 1892) homes of the day, including a $1000 "Workingman's Model Home", two stories plus a cellar, 20x28 feet per story (560 square feet per floor), including three bedrooms.  The furniture for this three bedroom home was listed at an aggregate cost of $300, and total family expenses for a year were listed as food at $200, clothing at $100, fuel at $50, and annual miscellaneous expenses of $50.  Feeding a family of five was listed as 50 to 60 cents per day.  We can learn a lot about history and economics by reading these antique magazines on Google Books.

            Thousands of more recent books are available for free viewing on Google Books.  I teach courses in Business and Economics at LIT, and Google Books lists 14,868 titles in its Business & Economics directory.  Google Books also has 149,600 medical books listed, as well as 62,800 cookbooks.  While many of the newer books are complete and can be viewed online, many others say, "This is a preview.  The total pages displayed will be limited."  One cookbook I looked at that contained that statement was the 1975 version of the "Joy of Cooking".  While some pages were omitted, I was able to find a lot of interesting recipes in the 900+ pages that were available.  On the edge of the browser window was a statement from Google that said, " You can order full copies of any book using the "Get this book" links to the side of the preview page."  Along with the 481,600 books available in the "Law" category, 60,566 under "Humor, and 161,600 under "Travel", as well as the dozens of other categories, anyone should be able to find a huge selection of books of interest.

            Being Google, the entire library of millions of titles is fully searchable, and both the directory and the search results can be sorted into those titles that are either public domain (mostly downloadable as a PDF file), full view, and limited view.  Google has provided an excellent resource for readers of all ages.  The selection of books currently available is outstanding, and according to some published resources, only makes up about 30% of all of the titles that Google has scanned because of unresolved copyright issues.  Once the final legal issues are resolved, the selection of titles should be much bigger.  I eagerly look forward to what else might become available from http://books.google.com.

May 8, 2010

SUPERAntispyware Offers Excellent Malware Detection and Removal by Ira Wilsker 

WEBSITES;

http://www.superantispyware.com

http://www.superantispyware.com/onlinescan.html

http://www.virustotal.com

http://www.superantispyware.com/portablescanner.html 

            The attacks on our computers continue at record levels.  It would be great if I did not have to write so many columns on malware, and how to detect and remove it, but our computers are still being infected in record numbers.  While our antivirus software publishers push frequent updates to our computers, and continuously improve their offerings, the malware authors are often a few steps ahead, and regularly penetrate our defenses.  According to the Swiss website "Zeus Tracker" (zeustracker.abuse.ch/statistic.php), the ZeuS trojan, which is one of the most prolific in circulation, can penetrate the major antivirus software, and infect our computers in large numbers.  In fact, the average antivirus detection rate for the ZeuS trojans, and its variants, was a dismal 47.1% on May 1, meaning that ZeuS will not be detected or stopped by our updated antivirus software over half the time, allowing it to infect a computer that has the most recent antivirus updates!  I have been a strong proponent of protective software that offers a layered defense in addition to our antivirus software.  Recently I came across another product that does precisely that.

            In one of the technical support blogs that I read regularly, was a discussion about what independent computer technicians use on-site to clean infected computers.  Two of the three products most often mentioned have been reviewed here in the recent past (Malwarebytes and a-squared), which I carry on the USB  flash drive on my car keychain.  The third product that was widely used by the technicians I was unfamiliar with, but several technicians raved about it so I had to research it and give it a try.  That product was SUPERAntispyware.

            SUPERAntispyware is available in four flavors from superantispyware.com; a freeware version, a fully featured (paid) professional version, a free portable version, and a free online version.  My first experience was with the freeware version.  This version will detect and remove malware from hard drives, removable and portable drives, memory, and the registry.  It offers excellent detection and removal of spyware, adware, malware, trojans, dialers, worms, keyloggers, browser hijackers, and other threats.  SUPERAntispyware has a slogan that says that it will, "Remove all of the spyware, NOT just the easy ones!"  As an unscientific experiment, I purposely ran SUPERAntispyware (free edition) on several badly infested computers after I had cleaned them with the other two very reputable products that I have been using in the past.  Before each scan, I manually updated all three products to be certain that I had the latest updates.  On each computer, SUPERAntispyware detected and removed some malware that had been missed by the other products.  Just to be fair, no product can offer absolute 100% detection and removal all the time, which is precisely why I purposely use multiple products in serial order to clean infected computers, a practice followed by many other independent professionals that I communicate with.  When used last, SUPERAntispyware almost always detected some malware that was missed by the previous two products; when I used it first, at least one of the other products caught something that it missed (usually traces of malware).  Still, in my experience, the detection and removal rate of SUPERAntispyware was excellent. 

            Regardless of what product is used to detect and remove malware, there is always the very real chance of a false positive, and that a critical file may be erroneously detected and deleted in error.  For this reason, I recommend that any files detected be quarantined, rather than deleted; if the file is needed later, it can be recovered from the quarantine directory.  If I have no problems with missing files after several weeks, I delete the quarantined files.  Sometimes the detection software, regardless of brand, detects files that appear to be legitimate and necessary; when this happens, I upload the suspicious file to Virus Total (virustotal.com) which will scan the file against 41 major security products, and display each of their findings.  If those 41 other products used by Virus Total indicate that the file is OK, then I obviously do not delete or quarantine it, and then use the malware scanners' "report false positive" feature to notify the publisher of the false positive.

            While the freeware version is intended explicitly for detection and removal, the Professional version ($29.95 retail for a lifetime subscription) offers those services and much more.  The Professional version is designed to be installed and run on a computer that already has security software installed, and does not interfere with the existing security software.  It uses few system resources and does not significantly degrade system performance, while providing an additional layer of strong protection.  One interesting feature in the Professional edition is the "First Chance Prevention (which) examines over 50 critical points of your system each time your system starts up and shuts down to eliminate threats before they have a chance to infect and infiltrate your system."  It also offers real-time protection from harmful software that may try to install itself on your computer, as well as protection of your registry and browser.  Automated scans can be scheduled as desired to ensure that the computer is free from malware.  Any application that is loaded and run will be scanned automatically to verify that it is not a vector that can load malware, and that the application itself is safe to run.  The Professional version is automatically updated at least every eight hours, and can be configured to check for updates before any scans are started.  SUPERAntispyware offers a totally functional 15 day free trial of its Professional version, so users can try all of the features before making a purchase decision.  As a point of fact, I now have the Professional version installed and running on my computer in addition to my major brand security suite.

            Hardly a day goes by that someone does not ask for help in cleaning an infected computer.  On a regular basis, I download the free portable version to the USB flash drive I have on my keychain.  This version is free, and does not require any installation or updates, as it is updated regularly, and is run directly from the flash drive (or CD drive).  The portable version uses a randomly assigned filename as much of the common malware prevents the popular detection software from running.  Yesterday, using the SUPERAntispyware Portable version, I scanned a badly infected computer that had a major security suite installed.  This particular computer was infected with the ZeuS malware, which penetrated the security software, neutralized it, and opened the computer to additional infections.  One of the infections, a common function of ZeuS variants, loaded the infamous "rogue antivirus" on the computer, which totally took over the computer, effectively holding it for ransom unless the registration fee was paid to a foreign crook.  The Portable version detected and removed over 900 threats from that computer, including the rogue antivirus and the ZeuS.  A follow-up scan with another malware detector only found some traces of the malware which had been removed previously.  As is often necessary, I had to totally reinstall the security suite software on the computer.   I strongly recommend that the Portable version of SUPERAntispyware be downloaded periodically to a flash drive, just in case it is needed; I use mine on an almost daily basis on someone's computer.

            SUPERAntispyware offers a free online scan for malware at superantispyware.com/onlinescan.html.  I tried it, and it is substantially the same as the portable version, but runs on the host computer, rather than a flash drive.  It does not install anything to the start menu or program files, and does not need to be uninstalled after running.

            In the short time I have been using it, I have become one of the 30 million loyal users of SUPERAntispyware.  At a minimum, I would recommend that users download and install at least the freeware version, and copy the Portable version to a flash drive "just in case".  Performing a scan on your computer would be a good exercise and learning experience, and may also detect malware on your computer that may have penetrated your existing security software.  You may want to consider the fully functional, free, 15 day trial of the Professional version, and then purchase it if you like it and want the real-time protection and other features that it offers.

            I like SUPERAntispyware, and use the different versions on a regular basis, as appropriate.  You should try it, and see if your computer really is clean.  If not, SUPERAntispyware can effectively clean it.  Better safe than sorry.

May 1, 2010

Microsoft Offers Free "Fix it" Utilities by Ira Wilsker 

WEBSITES:

http://support.microsoft.com/fixit

http://fixitcenter.support.microsoft.com

https://fixit.support.microsoft.com/reporting/gadget/fixit4me.gadget  

            We have all heard the moans and groans about Microsoft's frequent lack of response in terms of its technical support, unless we are willing to pay significant support fees.  I have had mixed success at using Microsoft's support forums, including no responses to multiple postings about my Windows 7 upgrade problems; countless other posts in that forum and other Microsoft support forums lament the same sentiment, that Microsoft is sometimes (often) non-responsive.  The tide may be turning in a positive direction for Microsoft, as it recently released "Microsoft Fix it Solution Center" (support.microsoft.com/fixit), and "Microsoft Fix it Center Online (beta)" (fixitcenter.support.microsoft.com).  For those with Vista or Windows 7, Microsoft also released a "gadget", (fixit.support.microsoft.com/reporting/gadget/fixit4me.gadget) which will display a small image on the desktop showing that latest list of "Fix it" utilities.  These small utilities will run on Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7.

            What Microsoft has apparently done is to take many of the most common problems reported by Windows users and create a library of small utilities that can automatically repair those problems.  Microsoft says that Microsoft Fix it will "Find and fix common problems."  According to Microsoft, "We're working hard to automate solutions to common software problems in an easy, intuitive way that is available when and where you need it. So whether you are looking for a solution in help or support content, or an error report, Fix it provides a way to apply automated fixes, workarounds, or configuration changes so you don’t have to perform a long list of manual steps yourself."

            The Microsoft Fix it Solution Center offers online automated fixes for problems with Windows itself, Internet Explorer, Enterprise Products, Office, Email and Messaging (Outlook and Outlook Express), Windows Media Player, Xbox and Zune, and Games and Consumer Products.  In reviewing the dozens of fixes available under these headings, I can recognize many of the problems that I have either experienced myself, or have heard of others with those explicit problems.  One of the several issues that I have had with my Windows 7 machine is that sometimes the CD/DVD drive will not run, and it shows up on Device Manager with an exclamation point indicating that the drive has a problem.  I reinstalled the manufacturer's latest drivers, and reinstalled my CD and DVD software, and still the drive was not always recognized, and therefore would not work.  I found a Fix it solution that said that it might be able to repair my settings such that my drive would be recognized, and within seconds of running the Fix it utility, my drive worked flawlessly, and has continued to run since the appropriate Fix it was run.  Other Windows fixes include appearance issues, sound and print problems, system and security problems, and update problems.  For those not sure if a fix is appropriate, most of the Fix it utilities check to see if that selected fix is appropriate, and will stop it from executing if it is not necessary.

            Even though I generally do not use it, Internet Explorer (the "big blue e") is still the most widely used browser in the world, with more users than all other browsers combined.  Even though it is widely used, users still have a variety of problems with Internet Explorer.  Many of those problems may be instantly resolved by applying one of the fixes listed.  By simply clicking on the fix, and following the on screen prompts, the repair will be completed automatically.

            There are dozens of other useful utilities in the Microsoft Fix It Solution Center, and it is likely that users who are having problems with Windows and its companion components may find a solution here.  It is definitely worthy of a try.

            For those who want to have an even more automated solution to their Windows problems, they may prefer the Fix it Center Online (beta).  Microsoft's slogan for this particular service is "Click, click, fixed."  Microsoft claims that this service is easy, relevant, and allows the user to be in control of the process.  The diagnosis and repair service begins by downloading a small (437kb) file "FixitCenter_Run.exe".  According to Microsoft, " Fix it Center finds and fixes many common PC and device problems automatically. It also helps prevent new problems by proactively checking for known issues and installing updates. Fix it Center helps to consolidate the many steps of diagnosing and repairing a problem into an automated tool that does the work for you."  When run, the downloaded executable file will download a machine specific build that is explicitly for your computer, and highly personalized for the software and hardware on your computer.

            For my new Windows 7 computer, the Microsoft Fix it Center beta identified 25 distinct functions on my computer that may be candidates for repair or maintenance.  Clicking on an item will give a brief description of what will be repaired.  Clicking on the "Run" button will obviously run the appropriate utility.  Many of the utilities will perform necessary fixes and adjustments themselves, but some require some degree of interaction from the user.  I tried several of the listed utilities, and had mixed results; some worked well and made noticeable improvements, while others were not successful.  That is just the results on my particular Windows 7 computer; I had a greater rate of success on my older Windows XP computer, as well as other computers (XP and Vista) that I tried it on.         

            While not perfect, I can see where many of the issues and problems encountered by Windows users could be easily remedied by utilizing these utilities.  It should be noted that the Fix it Center Online is still in beta, which means that it is not a finished and refined product, and that there is still some work to be done on it.  Still, these free Fix it utilities should be considered as a potential solution for many of the Windows problems that we encounter.

April 24, 2010

Karen Is Offering Free Software Utilities by Ira Wilsker 

WEBSITES;

http://www.karenware.com

http://www.karenware.com/powertools.asp

http://www.karenware.com/bio.asp

http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp

http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptsync.asp

http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptwhois.asp

          I have been a big fan of free software utilities, and have written about them in this column many times before.  Some years ago I was looking for an obscure utility, and found it on the Karenware.com website.  Recently I was looking for another freeware real-time backup utility to use on my new Windows 7-64 computer, and read a review about the free Karenware utility "Karen's Replicator".  I had forgotten what a treasure trove of  over two dozen freeware utilities that Karen offers, and this review refreshed my memory.

          In her online autobiography at karenware.com/bio.asp, Karen says that she is "Karen Kenworthy, author of Karen's Power Tools and Karen's Power Tools Newsletter.  Karen has written for Windows Magazine and Winmag.com, for almost a decade. Her free Power Tools newsletter has over 80,000 subscribers, and is growing by 100 new subscribers every day. She also writes custom programs, and develops web sites."  Karen has earned a well-deserved reputation for writing some excellent quality free utilities that can satisfy a variety of computing needs.

          I downloaded her Karen's Replicator v3.6.8 from karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp to my Windows 7-64 machine, and the 1.9mb file downloaded and installed quickly.  There were no toolbars or other gimmicks to install, which some other freeware publishers have started to include as a revenue stream, but not Karen; her software is clean and free of nuisance add-ons.  Replicator will run on almost all Windows machines from the ancient Windows 95 to the new Windows 7.  Replicator is a very simple backup utility that can automatically backup an entire hard drive at user selected times, or be run manually as desired.  By default, Replicator will not duplicate a file that has already been backed up, unless it has a different name, size, or date.  Replicator can also be configured not to backup selected files, such as temporary and other useless files, saving time and space.  As soon as I installed Replicator I selected to do a full file backup to one of my several external USB 2.0 hard drives, which it performed surprisingly fast.  Files are stored on the backup device in native format, and can be read or copied by Windows Explorer or any other file utility.  I even directly opened files on my external drive that had been copied by Replicator, and they opened flawlessly.

          Remember that Murphy's First Law of Computing is that, "A properly backed up hard drive will never fail; but if there is no current backup, the hard drive will always fail at the most inopportune time".  I have Replicator set to perform a backup every evening, such that I will always have a backup of my critical files that is not more than 24 hours old.  It does what other programs call an incremental backup, in that it only copies new, or changed files with each backup, making subsequent backups very fast.  Since I like redundancy, as an external hard drive can fail also, I am currently using three external drives which I rotate periodically, having only one connected to the computer, and the other two stored safely away.  If one external drive should fail, I still have a fairly recent backup, minimizing any losses.  When I change external hard drives, Replicator does a very good job at keeping the backup files current.  When I evacuated for Rita, Gustav, and Ike, the first item I packed was my external hard drive with my most recent backup.  Since the backup files are in native format, no utilities other than Windows Explorer or another file manager are necessary to copy the files back if necessary.  Especially after Ike, many local people and businesses were distraught to find their computers with their irreplaceable data destroyed by the hurricane and storm surge.  Fortunately I had only minor damage to my house from the storms, but if I would have had major damage, I could have purchased a new computer and quickly restored my important data files.  Many of us have important files on our computers, including tax files, wedding pictures, family photos and videos, financial records, and other vital files.  A good backup buys us peace of mind and a sense of security.  I can strongly recommend Karen's Replicator as an excellent, but very easy to use, backup utility.

          One of my pet peeves is a computer with the wrong date and time on the clock displayed on the taskbar.  Recent versions of Windows include a feature to update the internal clock, but experience has shown that this utility's performance is often spotty and unreliable, resulting in an incorrect time (and sometimes date) displayed.  I downloaded Karen's Time Sync v2.02 from karenware.com/powertools/ptsync.asp.  Time Sync offers a comprehensive list of hundreds of time servers from all over the globe; I selected the public time server closest to me and in my time zone, "tick.uh.edu" at the University of Houston.  The selection of time servers offered by Time Sync is far superior to the handful of time servers included in later versions of Windows, and will update the clock as desired.  I selected to automatically check and update my computer clock whenever the computer is booted.  Now I can be reasonable certain that the time displayed on my computer's clock is accurate.

          Sometimes an internet user would like to know who owns an internet domain, complete with contact information on the domain owner.  Karen offers a free utility WhoIs v2.6.6, which can be downloaded from karenware.com/powertools/ptwhois.asp.  According to the website, WhoIs will, "Query the 200+ top-level domain registries and Regional Internet Registries around the world, and return information about Internet sites. Information available includes owner of domain name, and often owner's mailing address, email address, phone number, and fax number."  I occasionally use WhoIs to find the registered owner of a website, and it works very well provided the owner has honestly registered the domain with accurate information.

Some of Karen's other utilities that I sometimes use are URL Discombobulator, Computer Profiler, Calculator, and  LAN Monitor.  The URL Discombobulator can decode and display the real internet addresses of a website that has an ascii or hex web address, or otherwise difficult to comprehend web address.  Computer Profiler displays all of the minute details about a computer's hardware and software, including network information, USB devices, operating system, printers, drives, and many other things about a computer; this information may be useful in servicing, upgrading, updating, or repairing a computer.  Karen's Calculator can process and display numbers with thousands of digits, and displays the entries and answers on a virtual paper tape which can be saved.  LAN Monitor, which is Karen's only program which will not run on Windows 95 (but runs fine on Windows 98 to Windows 7) displays information on the computer and local network.  LAN Monitor shows the adapter speed, IP address DHCP, type of connection, and other information on every connected computer.  This utility shows the real-time traffic, transmission errors, and network load information.

          Karen Kenworthy is to be commended for writing such fine utilities, and offering them to the public at no charge.  I recommend that users look at the list of available utilities at karenware.com/powertools.asp and download and try any of interest.  The file sizes may be small, but their quality and features are excellent. I like Karen's utilities, and use a few of them every day, and so should you.  As I have said before, you cannot beat the price and the quality.

April 17, 2010

Remove Malware From Your Computer or Face the Dire Consequences

by Ira Wilsker 

WEBSITES:

http://www.malwarebytes.org

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam/database/mbam-rules.exe

http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/

http://www.superantispyware.com

http://housecall.antivirus.com

http://download1.emsisoft.com/a2usb.zip

http://www.superantispyware.com/portablescanner.html

http://www.avg.com/us-en/avg-rescue-cd  

            For the past few weeks I have been inundated with calls, emails, and personal visits from frustrated people who have computers badly infected with malware.  All of them had popular brands of free or commercial antivirus software installed which, not surprisingly, was penetrated by the vector carrying the malware.  The two most common sources of the difficult to cure infections are purloined websites and contaminated email messages.  To a lesser, but not unusual extent, some of the computers I cleaned were contaminated by instant messages, posts on social networking sites, and even a few that were carried on contaminated USB flash drives.

            In earlier columns, I explained that much of the new crop of malware circulating rapidly around the internet, by some accounts as many as 50,000 new threats a day, are explicitly written to penetrate contemporary antivirus software.  Some recent studies showed that only about 45% of the newly released malware is even detected by the major antivirus products, allowing as much as 55% of the new malware to penetrate its defenses.   I also write columns about how to protect a computer from dangerous websites using any of the several link scanner utilities (mostly free) from several security companies including AVG, Threatfire, Trend Micro,  and McAfee.  If any one of these utilities had been used prior to the malware infection, the user would not likely have been infected.  Some of the new versions of the comprehensive  internet security suites provide some protection against infestation from contaminated social network sites and USB flash drives; most of the security suites provide some protection from email borne malware, but protection from the very newest threats is often beyond the capability of many products for a period ranging from just a few hours to several days, depending on how fast the security company can detect, identify, dissect, and come up with a cure.  It is then up to the user to be sure to download and install the updated signature files for his security software, unless he is using one of the few "cloud based" security products that do not require frequent updating (such as Immunet and Panda's CloudAntivirus both of which were written about in recent weeks in this column).  If your security software provides for automated updates, set it to update as frequently as possible;  if it requires manual updates (as do several of the free security utilities), run  the update feature every hour or two.  One user whose computer I recently cleaned could not understand how his computer became infected because he had one of the best free antivirus utilities installed and he updates it every week or two, whenever he thinks of it.  In reality, he had no protection from the hundreds of thousands of new threats that were circulating since his last infrequent update, and it was several of these new threats that nailed his inadequately updated computer.  Just remember that antivirus and other antimalware software is like a newspaper; the newspaper in the driveway this morning was really yesterday's news; the antivirus update that you ran this morning was yesterday's malware signatures, and be totally cognizant that you may have little or no protection from the thousands of new threats that evolved or were otherwise created and released since your security software was updated.

            Much of the new crop of malware does not just penetrate the malware defenses provided by security software, but it also invisibly kills or otherwise neutralizes the security software, usually leaving the icon running in the system tray, even appearing to update regularly.  Since the user sees the icon in place, and sees the update notices, he blissfully believes that he is protected from malware, but not just is he no longer protected, but some of the malware "phones home" and tells other miscreants that this computer is available and vulnerable; that is expressly why it is usually necessary to totally reinstall the security software on the computer after the malware is annihilated.   This now unprotected computer may then be hijacked as a "zombie" to send spam email, or launch cyber attacks against other computers.  Keyloggers may be installed to steal usernames and passwords, as well as credit and banking information, and sold to identity thieves.  Personal information, address books, spreadsheets, tax information, and personal documents may be read and distributed by the cyber crooks for their own nefarious purposes.  Businesses may find their bank accounts drained, merchandise shipped to phantom recipients, trade and client secrets stolen, and become the victim of industrial espionage; all because they did not adequately protect themselves from malware attack.

            If the user with the contaminated computer can get online, then it is often easy to kill the malware, unless the malware protects itself by restricting access to the malware removal tools and websites.  Popular malware detection and removal tools are the free versions of Malwarebytes (malwarebytes.org), a-squared Free (www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free), and SUPERAntispyware (superantispyware.com).  If any of these can be downloaded, updated, and run, they will likely detect and remove the malware.  A common problem is that the malware prevents access to these websites, as well as the free online scanners such as TrendMicro's Housecall (housecall.antivirus.com).  Many of the malware products also insert items in the computer's registry that prevents the installed antimalware software from running.  One common example is the excellent Malwarebytes, which has an executable filename of mbam.exe; some of the malware does not let mbam.exe load and run.  In one case, where Malwarebytes had already been installed on the computer, I simply renamed the mbam.exe to another name (killmalware79.exe), and it ran and killed the malware that was controlling the computer.

            All too often, since the computer has been totally hijacked and placed under the complete control of the malware that is infecting it, it is nearly impossible to download any antimalware software or to access the online antimalware scanners, as well as even run the software that is already on the computer.  In these difficult cases it is necessary to go to "plan B" to clean the computer.  I carry a USB flash drive attached to my car keychain.  On it I carry the portable versions of the three antimalware utilities discussed above.  a-squared Free has a version available for free download that is kept updated, and intended to be installed to a USB flash drive, and run from the USB drive without the need to install it on the computer.  This program is called a-squared Emergency USB Files, and can be downloaded from download1.emsisoft.com/a2usb.zip.  This file can be uncompressed and extracted to the flash drive, and run directly from it by clicking on the executable file a2free.exe.  When downloaded, the signature files are fairly up to date, but as a matter of practice I manually update it from my computer regularly, such that the files on my flash drive are reasonably current.  When run from the USB drive, the program is as complete as one installed on the hard drive, and has all of the same capabilities of detecting and killing malware.

            I carry a second program on my USB flash drive, the free portable version of SUPERAntispyware, available for download from www.superantispyware.com/portablescanner.html.  This scanner can be installed on a flash drive or CD by following the instructions on the website.  In order to prevent the program from being blocked from running by the malware that is on the infected computer, the program name will be randomly generated.  This program is excellent at detecting and removing malware.

            The third program I carry on my flash drive is not currently available as a portable version.  It is the very popular Malwarebytes Free version, available from Malwarebytes.org.  I downloaded the file to my flash drive so I can install it on the infected computer to be cleaned, if the malware will allow it.  Just to be safe, as the malware will often block the update process as well, I also frequently download the manual update files to my flash drive from malwarebytes.org/mbam/database/mbam-rules.exe.  If I can install the program on the infected computer, I then run the recently downloaded mbam-rules.exe to update the program.  As a matter of practice, I rename the mbam.exe to another name so the malware will not block it, and then run it to kill the malware.

            I believe in redundancy, well aware that no utility is always 100% capable of detecting and removing malware, so I selectively run one of the antimalware utilities from the flash drive (usually a-squared), then another (usually SUPERAntimalware).  I typically select the quick scan first to provide fast cleaning of the computer's most common places of infection, then do a deep scan, which may take a much longer time to run.  If the computer appears to be cleaned, I then install and run the Malwarebytes on the target computer, leaving the Malwarebytes installed so the user can update it and rerun it as needed.  After removing the malware, it is often necessary to reinstall any security software that had been present, as well as change all of the user's passwords.  I also advise the user to carefully and frequently check his bank accounts and credit card websites to check for unauthorized activity.

            Sometimes a computer is so badly infected that it will not run the antimalware software from the USB drive, or may not even boot at all into Windows.  Fortunately, there is a good solution for that.  In addition to carrying my flash drive with the antimalware software, I also carry a bootable CD with an antimalware program, as well as several other utilities.  I like the free AVG Rescue CD, available for download from avg.com/us-en/avg-rescue-cd.  A file is also available to create a bootable USB flash drive, although many computers will not easily boot from of a flash drive, almost every computer will boot from a CD.  The downloaded file is in ISO format, which must be burned to the CD by an ISO burning utility, included in most burning suites; it cannot be simply copied to the CD.  If an ISO burning utility is necessary, there are several good free ones that can be downloaded.  Once properly burned to the CD, the CD is bootable, but into an operating system called Linux, not Windows.  Simply boot the computer with the AVG Rescue CD, and run the Linux versions of AVG's very popular antivirus and antispyware against the hard drive on the Windows computer.  The CD also includes several other utilities including a file manager, registry editor, and recovery tool.  Once the AVG antivirus and antispyware has been run from the bootable CD, and the infected computer cleaned, the CD can be removed from the drive, and the computer rebooted into Windows.  If Windows runs properly, then I rescan it with the utilities on my flash drive, and instruct the user to reinstall his security software.

            This sounds like a lot of trouble cleaning malware off of your computer, but the risks of failing to do so may lead to a lot more trouble.  The local computer stores can perform much the same tasks, but typically charge $50 to over $100 for the service.  The local computer clubs often have volunteers who will perform the service for free or nominal donations on a time available basis.  Be suspicious of the neighborhood self-proclaimed geek who wants to reformat your hard drive and reinstall your operating system, as you will likely lose your programs and data files, unless you have a good backup.  It is rarely necessary to reformat your hard drive and reinstall your operating system to remove malware, so do not even consider doing that unless the methods above totally fail, which while possible, is unlikely.

            If the user has adequate multi-level security protection in place, and practices safe computing practices, the probability of becoming a victim is small, yet since most users do not have such protections and practices in place, it is only a question of when the user will be victimized, probably sooner rather than later.  It would be a good practice to download and do a frequent scan with any of the utilities mentioned above, being sure to update them before any scan.  If something happens to penetrate your security, these utilities will likely detect and remove them.

To quote the grizzled desk sergeant from the old TV show "Hill Street Blues", "Be careful out there!"

April 10, 2010

Improve PC Performance With TuneUp Utilities 2010 by Ira Wilsker 

WEBSITE:

http://www.tune-up.com

          Many of us seem to be in a perennial battle to improve the performance of our computers, trying to tweak out the last little bits of performance that our machines are capable of.  I am always searching for ideas and utilities that can provide that last little bit of performance improvement, and have tried literally dozens of software products that claim to improve performance.  While most do work well, there are always a few that do not.  Recently, I downloaded a copy of TuneUp Utilities 2010 hoping to squeeze that last bit of speed out of my Windows 7 computer, and it appears to work very well, as advertised!

          I went to www.tune-up.com and downloaded the free, fully functional 30 day trial.  It downloaded quickly, and installed smoothly.  The full retail price of the 2010 version is $50, and for those with earlier versions (like me) the upgrade price was $30.  Checking my favorite price comparison website, Google's Froogle service (froogle.google.com), showed that the software is currently available from several online retailers at substantial discounts.

          After opening the program, I was greeted with four windows marked "Maintain system", "Increase performance", "Fix problems", and "Customize Windows".  The "Maintain system"  shows a green check marked "Automatic" that by default (settings can be manually changed) will check the computer for problems every three days while the machine is idle.  The automatic setting will optimize the system startup and shutdown, defragment the hard drive, remove broken shortcuts, and clean and defragment the registry.  There is also an option for a "1-Click Maintenance" that will run the automated maintenance utilities whenever desired by the user.

          In order to "Increase performance", TuneUp Utilities 2010 offers a real-time "live optimization", a turbo mode, a hard drive cleaner (removes useless files), configures the system startup for optimal performance, and offers to uninstall unneeded programs.  The summary that was displayed indicated that I had four things that still needed to be optimized, which included one recommended Firefox plug-in, and changing two Firefox settings; one visual effect should be turned off in order to improve my video performance.  Implementing these recommendations should improve my Internet performance.  TuneUp Utilities will automatically implement these recommendations if the user approves of the changes.

          Under the heading "Fix problems", only one problem was detected on my computer, and that was the fact that I had not recently checked my hard drive for errors.  The software incorporates a "TuneUp Disk Doctor" to detect and repair hard drive errors and related problems, which can be invoked with a mouse click.  In addition to checking the hard drive for errors, the software will search for common problems, can restore deleted files, and manage running programs.

          Many of us like to customize the way that Windows works and appears to us, rather than accept the program defaults.  The "Customize Windows" feature allows the user to control the display, input options, start menu, task bar, network and browsers, email, personal privacy, user logons, clean the memory and cache, maintain the system startup, system security, and many other settings.  The user need not be a geek in order to perform these tasks, as the options are clearly explained, and TuneUp Utilities will actually do the real work.  Many users are afraid to make system changes, and have a concern that they may do something wrong and ruin their computers; the "Rescue Center", with a life-ring icon, can selectively undo any changes that were made, allowing any changes to be undone.

          The four tune up boxes do not contain the only available functions, as there is a pull down menu labeled "More functions" that offers additional tools to the user.  The user can get an optimization report, undo changes, check for software updates, show system information, and other functions.  For those worried about securely deleting information, there is a TuneUp Shredder which can securely delete files such that they would be very difficult to recover.  For those who like to manually tweak the registry, an activity that I do not recommend unless the user is very aware of what he is doing and has backed up the registry prior to modifying it, there is a TuneUp Registry Editor which is much more feature rich than Windows integral "Regedit" registry editor.

          While I have no empirical scientific evidence that TuneUp Utilities 2010 has actually improved my performance, I do have the perception that my Windows runs smoother, boots faster, shuts down quicker, and demonstrates better performance.  I was happy with the results, and will continue to use the program.

          TuneUp Utilities has been a popular utility, with over 10 million registered users since the first version was released in 2003.  It runs well on modern versions of Windows starting with XP, and including Vista and the new Windows 7, in both 32 and 64bit builds.

          I would suggest that users download the free, fully functional, 30 day trial version of TuneUp Utilities 2010 from www.tune-up.com/download, and put it through its paces.  If it works as expected, then purchase it.  I now have the full version and use it frequently to keep my computer performing up to its capacity.

April 3, 2010

FREE Music Downloads from Amazon: By Ira Wilsker

WEBSITES:

http://tinyurl.com/ygke6t5  (connects to Amazon Free MP3 Downloads)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/dmusic/help/amd.html

            Regular readers of this column know that I like bargains, and I especially like the biggest bargains of all, “free stuff”.  Many of us now have some form of MP3 player (digital music format) in our cell phones, in our cars, on our computers, or in the myriad of small personal MP3 players carried by millions of people.  There are many sources of MP3 music that range from ripping music CDs (converting commercial music CDs to MP3 format), downloading pirated (illegal) music from P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing services, and purchasing MP3 files from a variety of legitimate services, such as iTunes.  Many are not aware that the online behemoth Amazon.com also has an enormous collection of MP3 files available for download, many of which are totally free!

            I first found out about the free MP3 downloads from Amazon from a listing on one of my favorite deal sites, dealnews.com, which periodically displays listings of new free CDs and MP3 files that can be downloaded from Amazon; often the free albums are seasonal, and have included Christmas music, Halloween, St. Patrick’s, and other events, but are definitely not restricted to seasonal music.  After seeing several albums available for free download from Amazon, one particular listing caught my attention as it was a genre’ of music that I like, so I decided to download the free album.  Upon arriving at the Amazon listing, I was directed to download Amazon’s proprietary MP3 downloader (free) from www.amazon.com/gp/dmusic/help/amd.html.  This downloading utility is available in Windows, Mac, and Linux versions, and only has to be installed before the first MP3 is downloaded, and will automatically load for subsequent MP3 downloads.  The downloader utility downloaded and installed quickly.  After installing the download utility, I went back to the page that had the free album, and clicked on the download link.  Since I already had an established Amazon account, I was not asked for any additional information or credit card information, and the price was clearly listed as “free”.  If the user does not have an Amazon account, registration is quick and easy.  The Amazon MP3 downloader loaded, and in just a few minutes, downloaded the entire album to my hard drive.  The album title was displayed, as was information about each song, and organized as an album, that can be played by any MP3 player.  Since downloading this first album, and finding that it worked flawlessly, I have subsequently downloaded dozens of other free albums, and hundreds of individual music selections.  I have a 4 gig SD memory card in my cell phone which is now loaded with legitimate music downloaded for free from Amazon, and it plays very well.  Obviously, in addition to the free MP3 titles, Amazon has countless more “pay” titles which they obviously hope that the user will purchase, but I have been happy with the free titles.

            As I type this, Amazon is offering several dozen free albums and hundreds of “singles” for free.  Music is available sorted by genre’.  The listing on the left side of the page shows the 21 genre’s available, including children's music, pop, rock, blues, classical, R&B, country, folk, jazz, hard rock & heavy metal, dance and DJ, Christian and gospel, soundtracks, opera, rap and hip hop, Latin, Broadway, and a few other genre’s.

            Since I have a new granddaughter, I decided to download several free MP3 titles to help entertain her, downloading enough free music to fill a CD.  The free listings are variable and inconsistent, as today (as I type this), there is only one free child’s album available, but there are still a few dozen individual children’s titles available, including “The Wheels on the Bus”, Twinkle Twinkle”, “Frere Jacques”, and “This Old Man”.  On a daily basis, Amazon always has a featured “Free song of the day”, and I just downloaded today’s selection, “He's Gone Away”, by US Air Force Singing Sergeants, which was from the album “This Land Is Your Land”.  On the bottom of the download page was a listing of other free titles downloaded by people who downloaded this song, and the first item listed was Elvis Presley’s “Walk a Mile in my Shoes”.

            For myself, I like more traditional music, and actively download music from the genre’s that I enjoy.  I just checked the classical listings, and there are five free albums listed for download today.  One that I just saw listed, which I am downloading at this moment is “I Love the 80s, Vol. 1 (1880s)”, which is a collection of symphony music composed in the 1880’s by such greats as Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Brahms, Dvorak, Bruckner, and others.  Also listed was an album of Chopin music, which will be next on my download list.  I have also downloaded show tunes, jazz, international music, patriotic music from the Boston Pops, Big Bands, music of the 60’s, and dozens of other albums as well as individual MP3’s.  There is also a selection of individual comedy audio available for free download in MP3 format, but be aware that some of these are quite risqué’, and may be inappropriate for children.  I also just downloaded the free album “Discover Texas Music: Volume 1”, which includes nine contemporary songs by Texas artists.  Right now, Amazon lists 1547 free MP3’s available for download, but this number and selection is very variable, as some items I have downloaded for free in the past are no longer listed as free; likewise, every time I check the listings, I find interesting newly listed free titles by sorting on “Release Date” (top right corner of music listings) to see what is coming up and what has just been posted.  By simply clicking on the “Get MP3” button, I can download the files.

            While there is obviously a marketing benefit to Amazon by offering these free MP3 files, they are to be commended for making them available.  Since they are all free, there is not much risk in trying a selection.  I can recommend these free Amazon MP3 files to anyone.