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Feeling The Need For Speed
The Helpful Neighbor
By Ray Wilson, For The Bulletin
We get right to our sign-off promise of last week’s column. When there is a non compos mentis program being offered, if no other attribute is mentioned, you will read the speed that is built in. Unless there is a fair and thorough evaluation, speed is relative. In a laboratory, under ideal conditions, a speed test is viable, but not on an everyday user’s computer. The most prevalent questions I receive are about speed, or lack thereof. I dare say my machines are squeaky clean yet, there are times when they are quite balky.
Causes? Software corruption, unnecessary programs on file, registry loaded with junk, hard drive contamination, programs running in the background (pop-up ads or automatic updates), temporary files, and any of the conglomeration of internet transmitted diseases (ITDs). One other problem is having two firewalls and/or two antivirus programs running at the same time — one of each only. It seems like quite a litany of items to get rid of. However, these are not taken care of all at the same time. It is important to understand this accumulation does not happen in an hour, a day, or even a week. It all depends on how you use your computer. Doing what I do (tinker), I perform a general clean up on a daily basis. Unless you are a gamer or super surfer, I suggest you use a weekly maintenance program with an overall debris sweep monthly.
Another process you should follow on a yearly or semi-yearly basis to lengthen the life of your machine is dust removal. Your machine has three external fateful enemies — static electricity, heat and dust. Never try to open a computer unless you first discharge the static electricity in your body. By removing the dust from the circulating fans, you control the heat. Full instructions are available for this process at IMHelpful4u@aol.com. This will take the best part of 15 minutes, but it is well worth this small investment of time to prevent cooking your computer’s motherboard.
Cybersecurity is of paramount importance. There are plans for a new billion-dollar building to be built in Utah near Salt Lake City to house cybersecurity and other operations, yet to be announced. After seven months, the first person tapped to run this new department refused and they came up with Howard Schmidt who has accepted the challenge.
Mr. Schmidt has held a similar job in a previous administration, has varied experience at high-level corporate jobs, and has written a book on defending the Internet. Mr. Schmidt served under President George W. Bush for three years, resigning after producing the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace. He was chosen by President Obama and he will report directly to the president as Czar of Cybersecurity. Mr. Schmidt favors government promotion of education, research and prods vendors to produce more secure products for everyday use and will work closely with National and Homeland Security. Parts of this disclosure stem back to 2008. Now, the mayor of Baltimore, Sheila Dixon, proposes to have the cybersecurity operation located in Fort Meade which is, purportedly, to foster thousands of new (government) jobs in this area.
Homeland Security: I think an adult beverage or a strong cup of black coffee may be helpful in view of this continuance. “Most U.S. federal agencies — including the Department of Homeland Security — have failed to meet a Dec. 31, 2009, deadline to deploy new authentication mechanisms on their Web sites that would prevent hackers from hijacking Web traffic and redirecting it to bogus sites.” Agencies were required to roll out an extra layer of security on their (.gov) Web sites under an Office of Management and Budget Mandate issued in August 2008, although at least one expert calls that year-end deadline ‘a little aggressive.’ Independent monitoring indicates that only 20 percent of agencies show signs of deploying the new security mechanism, which is called DNS Security Extensions. This is an Internet standard that prevents snooping attacks by allowing Web sites to verify their domain names and corresponding IP addresses using digital signatures and public-key encryption. Eighty percent of our government agencies still at risk ...”
Google has reported a cyber attack on them and 33 other companies, including Adobe, originating in Beijing, China. The U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said “We are taking this very seriously. We look to the Chinese government for an explanation.” (Hmmm!) While attacks of this nature have hit the military, federal agencies, and government contractors in the past, Google is the first technology company to acknowledge having been invaded.
Google discovered this attack in mid-December. The attack exploited an un-patched bug in Microsoft software, which has subsequently been patched. The attackers hit Google for e-mails of Chinese dissidents. It is a well known fact China has been infiltrating our government’s records and shows no signs of discontinuing. I suspect this will have an effect on Google’s relationship with China.
This story raises an important question. Why wasn’t Google running its own browser instead of Internet Explorer (IE) that proved vulnerable, especially after Microsoft warned of an un-patched bug? Microsoft has acknowledged the bug in IE had been used to launch the attacks against Google and the other companies. One explanation was tendered by a spokesperson for Google stating, it is not unusual for Google employees to have both browsers on their machine, which could get turned on sometime during the day.
China’s Foreign Ministry rebuked the Secretary of State saying, “Criticism of its Web censorship policies could damage the two countries’ relationship. Regarding comments that contradict facts and harm China-U.S. relations — we are firmly opposed,” Ma Zhaoxu, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement posted on the ministry’s Web site. “We urge the U.S. side to respect the facts and to stop using the so-called Internet freedom issue to make groundless charges against China.”
Those words came just hours after Mrs. Clinton criticized China, Iran and other repressive regimes for blocking their citizens’ access to the Web.
Questions: If you are wondering where something can be found, try looking in the Accessories. If you go to All Programs and search thoroughly, you will find the heading Accessories. Click on it and you will find a plethora of information. In fact, there are 15 items of information including: Calculator (leave the hand-held in the drawer), Command Prompt (another way to get to it), Windows Explorer (so this is where it is), Welcome Center with 14 items, 7 of which are from Microsoft, System Tools: Backup Status, Computer, Control Panel, Disk Cleanup, and Disk Defragmenter (these last two being necessities), Internet Explorer (sans add-ons). There is also System Information: Summary, 25 items - Hardware Resources has 6 items, Components has13 items, Software Environment has 12 items and there is more to uncover on your own.
Note: Be advised. The problems of Google with China have no bearing or relationship with the software from the IObit Company. Their two programs, IObit Security 360 and Advanced System Care, are excellent and worthy of your consideration. The more I use them, the more I become aware of the technology that is ours for the taking. Download them. Give them a try. They are free with Pro provisions available. Positive news. And, no, I have not taken leave of my senses advocating you get a little brown bug with a black head in your system. This bug is the icon of SuperAntiSpyware just about the best anti-spyware program I have had the pleasure to review. This program appeared on the Web in 2004 and it has been a staple on my system since 2005. In the past 5 years, through many updates, this program has evolved to today’s standard for anti-spyware.
SuperAntiSpware is in use by close to 25 million users worldwide who want the best for their systems. This innovative product provides protection from spyware, malware, adware, trojans, rootkits, worms, dialers, and any other ITDs of which there are 1,200,000 and counting. Both of the SuperAntiSpyware editions are free and afford the security you are looking for. The Professional edition ($29.95) has many features not available in the free edition, but they are fully worth your consideration.
In this final year of the first decade of the new millennium 2010, the reports of increased infectious software are deeper and more efficient than those that went before. This challenge demands a super product and that is what we put to the test. On Jan. 21, my associate was asked to repair a computer with no visible security programs. He used SuperAntiSpyware (SAS) and another program and told me SAS did the best job in bringing this machine back from the dead. I just received an e-mail from a friend in Florida reporting on SAS removing 145 items from his machine which was just about crawling prior to running SAS. This company has released a new concept in antispyware with a portable. More on that later! For now, SuperAntiSpyware is available at www.superantispyware.com/. Stay well and be positive.
Ray Wilson was raised in Upper Darby and has lived in Chester County since 1973. He has more than 40 years of experience in computing and he has been testing virus and Spyware programs for eight years. He can be reached at IMHelpful4u@aol.com.
Causes? Software corruption, unnecessary programs on file, registry loaded with junk, hard drive contamination, programs running in the background (pop-up ads or automatic updates), temporary files, and any of the conglomeration of internet transmitted diseases (ITDs). One other problem is having two firewalls and/or two antivirus programs running at the same time — one of each only. It seems like quite a litany of items to get rid of. However, these are not taken care of all at the same time. It is important to understand this accumulation does not happen in an hour, a day, or even a week. It all depends on how you use your computer. Doing what I do (tinker), I perform a general clean up on a daily basis. Unless you are a gamer or super surfer, I suggest you use a weekly maintenance program with an overall debris sweep monthly.
Another process you should follow on a yearly or semi-yearly basis to lengthen the life of your machine is dust removal. Your machine has three external fateful enemies — static electricity, heat and dust. Never try to open a computer unless you first discharge the static electricity in your body. By removing the dust from the circulating fans, you control the heat. Full instructions are available for this process at IMHelpful4u@aol.com. This will take the best part of 15 minutes, but it is well worth this small investment of time to prevent cooking your computer’s motherboard.
Cybersecurity is of paramount importance. There are plans for a new billion-dollar building to be built in Utah near Salt Lake City to house cybersecurity and other operations, yet to be announced. After seven months, the first person tapped to run this new department refused and they came up with Howard Schmidt who has accepted the challenge.
Mr. Schmidt has held a similar job in a previous administration, has varied experience at high-level corporate jobs, and has written a book on defending the Internet. Mr. Schmidt served under President George W. Bush for three years, resigning after producing the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace. He was chosen by President Obama and he will report directly to the president as Czar of Cybersecurity. Mr. Schmidt favors government promotion of education, research and prods vendors to produce more secure products for everyday use and will work closely with National and Homeland Security. Parts of this disclosure stem back to 2008. Now, the mayor of Baltimore, Sheila Dixon, proposes to have the cybersecurity operation located in Fort Meade which is, purportedly, to foster thousands of new (government) jobs in this area.
Homeland Security: I think an adult beverage or a strong cup of black coffee may be helpful in view of this continuance. “Most U.S. federal agencies — including the Department of Homeland Security — have failed to meet a Dec. 31, 2009, deadline to deploy new authentication mechanisms on their Web sites that would prevent hackers from hijacking Web traffic and redirecting it to bogus sites.” Agencies were required to roll out an extra layer of security on their (.gov) Web sites under an Office of Management and Budget Mandate issued in August 2008, although at least one expert calls that year-end deadline ‘a little aggressive.’ Independent monitoring indicates that only 20 percent of agencies show signs of deploying the new security mechanism, which is called DNS Security Extensions. This is an Internet standard that prevents snooping attacks by allowing Web sites to verify their domain names and corresponding IP addresses using digital signatures and public-key encryption. Eighty percent of our government agencies still at risk ...”
Google has reported a cyber attack on them and 33 other companies, including Adobe, originating in Beijing, China. The U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said “We are taking this very seriously. We look to the Chinese government for an explanation.” (Hmmm!) While attacks of this nature have hit the military, federal agencies, and government contractors in the past, Google is the first technology company to acknowledge having been invaded.
Google discovered this attack in mid-December. The attack exploited an un-patched bug in Microsoft software, which has subsequently been patched. The attackers hit Google for e-mails of Chinese dissidents. It is a well known fact China has been infiltrating our government’s records and shows no signs of discontinuing. I suspect this will have an effect on Google’s relationship with China.
This story raises an important question. Why wasn’t Google running its own browser instead of Internet Explorer (IE) that proved vulnerable, especially after Microsoft warned of an un-patched bug? Microsoft has acknowledged the bug in IE had been used to launch the attacks against Google and the other companies. One explanation was tendered by a spokesperson for Google stating, it is not unusual for Google employees to have both browsers on their machine, which could get turned on sometime during the day.
China’s Foreign Ministry rebuked the Secretary of State saying, “Criticism of its Web censorship policies could damage the two countries’ relationship. Regarding comments that contradict facts and harm China-U.S. relations — we are firmly opposed,” Ma Zhaoxu, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement posted on the ministry’s Web site. “We urge the U.S. side to respect the facts and to stop using the so-called Internet freedom issue to make groundless charges against China.”
Those words came just hours after Mrs. Clinton criticized China, Iran and other repressive regimes for blocking their citizens’ access to the Web.
Questions: If you are wondering where something can be found, try looking in the Accessories. If you go to All Programs and search thoroughly, you will find the heading Accessories. Click on it and you will find a plethora of information. In fact, there are 15 items of information including: Calculator (leave the hand-held in the drawer), Command Prompt (another way to get to it), Windows Explorer (so this is where it is), Welcome Center with 14 items, 7 of which are from Microsoft, System Tools: Backup Status, Computer, Control Panel, Disk Cleanup, and Disk Defragmenter (these last two being necessities), Internet Explorer (sans add-ons). There is also System Information: Summary, 25 items - Hardware Resources has 6 items, Components has13 items, Software Environment has 12 items and there is more to uncover on your own.
Note: Be advised. The problems of Google with China have no bearing or relationship with the software from the IObit Company. Their two programs, IObit Security 360 and Advanced System Care, are excellent and worthy of your consideration. The more I use them, the more I become aware of the technology that is ours for the taking. Download them. Give them a try. They are free with Pro provisions available. Positive news. And, no, I have not taken leave of my senses advocating you get a little brown bug with a black head in your system. This bug is the icon of SuperAntiSpyware just about the best anti-spyware program I have had the pleasure to review. This program appeared on the Web in 2004 and it has been a staple on my system since 2005. In the past 5 years, through many updates, this program has evolved to today’s standard for anti-spyware.
SuperAntiSpware is in use by close to 25 million users worldwide who want the best for their systems. This innovative product provides protection from spyware, malware, adware, trojans, rootkits, worms, dialers, and any other ITDs of which there are 1,200,000 and counting. Both of the SuperAntiSpyware editions are free and afford the security you are looking for. The Professional edition ($29.95) has many features not available in the free edition, but they are fully worth your consideration.
In this final year of the first decade of the new millennium 2010, the reports of increased infectious software are deeper and more efficient than those that went before. This challenge demands a super product and that is what we put to the test. On Jan. 21, my associate was asked to repair a computer with no visible security programs. He used SuperAntiSpyware (SAS) and another program and told me SAS did the best job in bringing this machine back from the dead. I just received an e-mail from a friend in Florida reporting on SAS removing 145 items from his machine which was just about crawling prior to running SAS. This company has released a new concept in antispyware with a portable. More on that later! For now, SuperAntiSpyware is available at www.superantispyware.com/. Stay well and be positive.
Ray Wilson was raised in Upper Darby and has lived in Chester County since 1973. He has more than 40 years of experience in computing and he has been testing virus and Spyware programs for eight years. He can be reached at IMHelpful4u@aol.com.
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