gripes

Defending yourself against Microsoft

Yesterday I wrote that Windows is malware. I said this because:

Microsoft can and will update your copy of Windows whenever they feel like it, regardless of your wishes. And, they feel no obligation to tell you what they've done. Your computer is just a zombie to them.

Defending yourself against Microsoft involves turning off automatic updates and that's what this posting is about.

At first glance, turning off Automatic Updates seems simple enough. In Windows XP, you go to the Control Panel, then System, then the Automatic Updates tab and click on the radio button to turn … Read more

Windows is spyware

Microsoft has crossed the line. They have been disliked by many techies, for arrogance, incompetence and more. But, this wasn't a universal opinion and reasonable people could have disagreed. Now however, the question of Microsoft's corporate character has left the realm of opinion and landed firmly in fact.

They are bad guys.

If there was any doubt, the final straw came today, in the September 13 edition of the Windows Secrets newsletter where the lead article by Scott Dunn (Microsoft updates Windows without users' consent) ended the debate.

According to Scott, "Microsoft has begun patching files on … Read more

Trend Micro's Transaction Guard sloppiness

In my last posting about DropMyRights, I used the Trend Micro Transaction Guard utility as an example of a Java applet installing software while running inside a restricted instance of Firefox.

Transaction Guard was only used to illustrate a point, the reference was not an endorsement of the product, which I have hardly any experience with. Since writing the last posting, I have tried to use Transaction Guard many times from three different Windows XP machines over the space of two days. Not once have I been able to install it. It consistently fails with the "network connection not … Read more

What is Network Solutions afraid of?

Many years ago I dealt with Network Solutions for registering domains and the experience was not a happy one. Subsequently I avoided them, until recently, when a client had a domain registered there. I would have been happy to let sleeping dogs lie, but wanted to use an advanced domain related feature offered by another registrar. It was time to deal with Network Solutions again.

Starting at networksolutions.com I tried to find instructions for moving the domain registration to another registrar. No can do. If the instructions are there, I couldn't find them. On the home page Domains … Read more

Everybody likes Mozy--except me. Part 2

This is a continuation of Tuesday's posting (Everybody likes Mozy--except me. Part 1), which introduced the Mozy online backup service and software and where I started offering my opinions. Since Tuesday, I came across two more positive Mozy reviews.

In April, Serdar Yegulalp, writing for InformationWeek, reviewed Online Vault, Carbonite, eSureIT, iBackup and Mozy (Five Online Backup Services Keep Your Data Safe, April 9, 2007). He concluded that "The all-around winner for regular users and small business from this bunch was definitely Mozy, both for its plan structure and its unobtrusive client."

Also in April, BusinessWeek had … Read more

Everybody likes Mozy--except me, Part 1

For a company in the boring business of online file storage, Mozy gets more than its share of press coverage, and from what I've seen, it's all been positive. Mozy attracted attention back in December 2006 when they started offering unlimited file storage for $5 per month or $55 per year (rounded off).

The first Mozy review I ran across was by Walter Mossberg in The Wall Street Journal ("These Services Make Backing Up Your Files Safe and Inexpensive", December 14, 2006). He liked Mozy, so I spent some time reviewing them for a class I … Read more

Buying a laptop hard disk at Best Buy

Recently someone brought me a non-functional laptop computer. The problem turned out to be a dead hard disk. As far as I could tell, the platters inside weren't even spinning.

The laptop owner needed the machine fixed as soon as possible, so he went to the local Best Buy with a printout I gave him from the Best Buy web site for a particular hard disk model. I had reviewed all the laptop hard drives in stock in that particular store and chose one with a low capacity, as his needs were modest, and a long warranty.

Despite the … Read more

NOD32 antivirus won't shut down

The NOD32 antivirus program from ESET has its share of enthusiasts. After a long, detailed review of the field, Scot Finnie in February called it the best antivirus product of 2007.

Based on Mr. Finnie's reviews and recommendation, I've been installing NOD32 on the computers of some of my clients. I've also lived with it a bit on one of my computers and had no major gripes.

Until yesterday.

I was about to run Microsoft Update on a Windows XP machine for the third or fourth time, and was getting tired of waiting for it complete. So … Read more