Microsoft Security Essentials

MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIALS – If you remember, Microsoft has had a yearly subscription product for internet security called OneCare. Out of my 600+ customers, 2 have it, so you can’t really call it successful, unless you only interview those 2 people. Well, Microsoft has decided, smartly, to admit that it’s the fact that their operating system has security holes, and they would start giving away free antivirus and free antispyware software. I’ve replaced Windows Defender and Avast! Antivirus on my work laptop with Security Essentials to test the functionality. PC Magazine’s Neil Rubenking has said “Not bad, not great” He still recommends a program like AVG or Avast. If you want to try Microsoft’s free product, you can go to: http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/ and download it. It will check to see if you have a legitimate license for Windows. Keep in mind that no solution will give you the ability to surf with impunity but it’s better than nothing or an expired antivirus solution.

How to Un-Expire (Reregister) Avast!

AVAST EXPIRED WARNING – Avast!, the antivirus I’ve been installing for the past year or so, has to be registered yearly in order to continue to work. Some of you have started getting messages that it will expire in a certain number of days. DO NOT let it expire. Here’s what you do to make sure that you don’t expire, and by the way, IT IS STILL FREE AND YOU DO NOT NEED TO PAY FOR IT (see above should you want to switch to Microsoft’s new product).



Right click on the spinning A (blue globe) in the bottom right icon bar
Left click ABOUT AVAST!
Left click LICENSE KEY in the bottom of the dialog box that popped up
Left click PROGRAM REGISTRATION
This will launch your web browser (AOL Explorer, Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc)
Left click “My registration key expired, I need a new one”
Fill out only email (two times), name, where the product is used (home), and the three letter security code at the bottom and hit REGISTER FOR FREE LICENSE
They will send you an email to the email address you specified.
In that email, there will be a code between two rows of ------------------------------------------------. Copy that code down either by using your mouse and copying it, or write it down.
Go back to the Registration dialog window that had the Program Registration “Enter your license key” screen up. Paste or type into the dialog window and press OK

Should I Migrate to Windows 7?!?!

WINDOWS 7 – October 22nd is the day! – Finally, Windows users get to catch up to Mac users again, instead of allowing Microsoft to embarrass itself like it did with Microsoft Vista. On October 22nd, Windows 7 will be released. This is a huge improvement over Windows Vista and XP and should be as popular as XP in home and work environments. If you’ve purchased a computer since late June, you are eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 7. This “in-place” upgrade will allow you to pop the DVD in, click run, and an hour later you’ll have Windows 7, at least that’s what we’re being told. So, don’t forget to sign up for the free DVD for it because you won’t get it otherwise. The technical specifications are similar to Vista, so don’t expect it to run on your four year old desktop with 512 Mb RAM because it won’t. Stay with Windows XP.

Another plea for online backups...

Online Backups – For $55/year you can back up the data on your computer to Carbonite online backup. I like them and feel confident that they will provide the piece of mind that is critical to the storage of your data.

You can get more information here: http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-3341704-10570470

Tax Free Holidays are mostly a feel good political scam.

Tax Free? No Thanks - I am getting a ton of questions because of the upcoming tax free holiday and my advice is if you don't need to buy a computer, don't buy one just because you save 6-7% (tax). I can think of positive things to do this weekend, and standing on line at Costco, an Office Supply store or an Electronics Box pusher is not one of them. If you play your cards right and buy off of the internet, you can save tax EVERY time, not just on these special days. Remember, if a retailer knows that you're all in a frenzy regarding saving tax, they might not discount the equipment as much as they normally would, so therefore the savings might not be as impressive. There will be deals so I will get the email “har har, Mr. Expert, you were wrong”. I get these emails after every tax free holiday and black Fridays. Usually though, the deals stink and only take advantage of the mob mentality of the shoppers. Stick to buying clothes and school supplies if you ask me. If you want a good deal on a computer, order online from companies like Tiger Direct or NewEgg, my favorite, where it’s always a tax free day.

I can see CLEARly now, the rain is gone...

Clear Wireless – Have you seen the green advertising for Clear? It’s extremely fast mobile internet, called 4G or WiMAX. It is going to replace the telecommunications companies 3G data cards for speed and reliability. It is funded by Sprint, and it may become a huge chunk of Sprint’s revenues moving forward since people are leaving Spring in droves, bad service, no phones other than the Palm Pre, etc. It will allow you to be anywhere in Metro Atlanta and 9 other cities by the end of the year. It has potential, but as any other high cost infrastructure, tiny revenue company (like Vonage for example), I would be careful because no telling how long they will be around. Target about $50/month.

Should you get a mac?

Macintosh Negatives – I really like the Mac. In fact, I was fortunate enough to have a Macintosh in 1984 and loved it. There are two huge negatives to switching to a Macintosh right now, 1 has to do with Blackberries and the other has to do with Activex. If you have a Blackberry phone, you will quickly notice that there is no good Blackberry software for the Mac. There is a program called PocketMac, and should you get it to work, you will amaze all of your friends as well as the staff here at Dunwoody PC. RIM is promising Blackberry Desktop Manager for the Mac soon and have been for some time now. The second big problem with Mac is that they don’t support Activex, which is the programming/scripting language by Microsoft that powers certain web sites. I see problems among my realtor clients because FMLS requires Activex and won’t run in Safari or Firefox on a Mac. Microsoft used to support Internet Explorer for Mac but hasn’t in a few years. The Apple Store will tell you “Just run Bootcamp or Parallels – they will allow you to run Windows programs”. Yah. Then ask them if they’ve ever installed it themselves and they will give you the royal blow-off and use their genius brain to help someone else. Mac people don’t like Windows people and vice versa. Not me. I like both.