Friday, May 7, 2010

Reminders

It's Friday, and perhaps a good time to remind you of a couple of things: SECURITY & BACKUPS. The weekend is ahead, maybe there'll be some rain that'll curtail some planned outdoor activities. Take some time to protect that treasure trove of data on your computer. I'm talking about your photos, videos, music, and documents that you have stored on your PC. I won't bore you with reposting prior posts on these two important subjects, but will instead provide you with some links that will serve as reminders. For starters, you might review yesterday's post about MSE.


Then, on SECURITY, review this link:


On BACKUPS of your data, try these links as some food for thought:



There are other blog posts on both SECURITY & BACKUPS on this blog. If you search for either (or anything else for that matter) in the little search bar labeled SEARCH THIS BLOG (upper right hand corner of this page) you an check them out.


Thursday, May 6, 2010

The 120-day Microsoft security suite test drive

This extensive article by Fred Langa, a highly-respected computer pro, lends credence to what I have come to believe. What is it exactly that I believe?

I believe you can toss out your expensive Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro, Webroot, Kaspersky, or any other fee-based security suite you currently use on your personal computer. And I believe that even if you get one of these suites for free, you are paying too great a price in overhead on your system by using them.
 

I have been using MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) for many months now (as this blog documents), and have not had a single problem. My previous suite included Windows Firewall, Windows Defender, and AVG Free Anti-Virus. AVG, also as documened in this blog, was/is a good product, but the company's marketing ploys to get its free users to upgrade to their fee versions was enough to drive me away, and sadly, was enough to get some of you to buy their fee product.


If you are using a fee-based security suite, you should consider MSE as its replacement when it comes time to pay the hefty annual fee. OR, if you use Norton or McAfee or other suite because your Internet Service Provider offers it to you for no fee, consider the gargantuan size and poor performance of these bundles vs. what I and others have to say about MSE.

The 120-day Microsoft security suite test drive

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

New MVPS HOSTS File Available

For those of you who have followed my lead and use the MVPS HOSTS file, there is a new one available now. You should get in the habit of looking for a new version every month or two. You will find out about availability and can download the latest at this site:

Monday, May 3, 2010

GasBuddy

Not my typical blog post, but a good one nonetheless. If you drive a lot and want to find the best gas prices in any particular location, gasbuddy.com is for you. If you do a whole lot of driving I'd suggest you become a member and provide input to the system based on your observances of gas prices you see in your travels.Who knows, you might even win a $250 gas card! Best of all, membership is free.

The more members the more observations and the easier it will be to find lower-priced gas.