Computing

Are computers super cool? Or are they the most annoying things we've ever encountered? I guess both are correct questions / statements. I'm watching a movie on one monitor and intermittently shopping / buying a couple CD's on the other.

Incidentally, the movie is A Patch of Blue with Sidney Poitier. I'd recommend it as a powerful story told from the perspectives of a black man and (primarily) a blind woman who's lives touch each other in a profound way.

Anyway, oh yeah... computers... handy. This morning I e-mailed my aunt in South Dakota. My dad's oldest sister, she's also the longest surviving sibling. She loved the pictures I shared with her of our recent snow. It would have been much more time-consuming and expensive to mail copies of the pictures. Sharing them via my free photo site was instant and virtually free since we both already pay for internet access. Virtually free. Get it? The internets is a virtual world and the pictures were... okay... right. You get it.

I used to constantly experiment with different hardware and software on whatever computer I had at the moment. Now, I mainly just want it to work. But I'm glad I have the knowledge to replace or repair hardware components myself, saving a bundle in labor costs.

I still like trying different software programs if I think something new might be superior to what I already have. Particularly if it's freeware or open-source, as is over 90% of the software I use. I'm still using Windows as a closed source, expensive, proprietary OS but I haven't paid for anything else. Oh, and I haven't pirated anything either!

I just looked through my installed software and that's really true. It's pretty amazing if you think about it. As I obviously am. Not sure if it's worth a blog entry but you get one anyway. For free.

Web Browsing

If you believe there's any online privacy left, don't use Chrome:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10030522-56.html

I know, as a Google rep. says, there's no such thing as privacy. But, I think they know too much about me already. Stuff like this seems awfully big-brotherish:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10024294-93.html

I firmly do NOT believe in trespassing on plainly marked roads and property and they are pro-actively doing so by the hour and by the day. Picasa 3 now has face recognition capabilities. Which means it could be used in street-level maps and maybe even Google Earth.

Yes, I see the irony of using Gmail and even this Blogger account. Which I've certainly had second thoughts about.

Maybe I'm paranoid. I'm okay with that.

Linux?

Periodically, over a number of years, I've contemplated the possibility of switching to Linux. Most recently with the advent of Vista. Every time an updated Microsoft OS comes out I think... 'okay, maybe I can be on Linux before the NEXT version of Windows comes out.'

I'm not quite there yet, but I do have a flavor of Linux installed on my external hard drive. That way I can switch to/from Linux or Windows without screwing up either installation permanently. Linux has come a LONG way in the last few years as far as ease of installation and usability. I'm not a programmer. I don't want to use the terminal window/command line too much, if at all. I rarely use a DOS window for XP and that's the same experience I want with Linux.

PCLinuxOS (based on Mandrake/Mandriva Linux) is, in my experience, one of the easiest-to-use editions of Linux out there. Installing it to my hard drive was kinda like installing Windows. Pretty uneventful. VERY different from the first time I tried to install a version of Linux back in the 90's. I was lucky to get past the command line to the graphical interface. Period. Nothing beyond that.

But 10 years later, what a difference. For one thing, PCLinuxOS seems to do very well at recognizing different video cards and monitors. I've tried it on several desktops and laptops. In this case, my dual monitors are recognized, audio (sound card) is working and obviously I'm online so it configured my NIC (network interface card). Most exciting to me was the graphical interface for setting up my USB wireless adapter (not bluetooth but wireless networking). I tried it and it worked. Other Linux Distributions seem to require NIC's rather than USB adapters.

I don't think the printer was installed automatically but setup was easy and it works.

Software-wise, OpenOffice is just fine for my Word/Excel/PowerPoint files. I realize that if people use Microsoft Access, OpenOffice won't cut it. There's no way to accurately convert Access files to OpenOffice and who wants to rebuild all their databases from scratch? Access users could try Crossover Linux, but that may not be good enough. If you have the patience, fortitude and know-how, it's possible that Wine might be a solution for some.

But as I said, for my personal use, OpenOffice works great. Linux versions of Google Picasa and Google Earth are installed, along with the Firefox web-browser which I'm using right now.
Google Pack includes StarOffice, which I'd prefer over OpenOffice, but currently Google Pack is only for Windows.

Coming from a Windows background, I just can't shake my concern about getting a virus, worm, etc. There's a program called Clam Anti-Virus that scans e-mail as you download it, which, I guess is the most important thing anyway. That's the most likely way to get an infection. If the Windows user in me wants to scan more or all of my files I can use the TrendMicro online scanner. None of the other online scanners seem to work with Linux.

Installing the codecs for watching DVD movies can be a little tricky but now that it's done I can watch movies as usual.

So that's where I'm at. I'm being held up by bluetooth issues, like my wireless keyboard and my cell phone. The wireless mouse works fine but I need to do more research regarding the keyboard, which doesn't.

I've heard and read that the Evolution e-mail client is somewhat comparable to Outlook. If I can get Linux to see my cell-phone then Evolution should be able to synchronize my address book and calendar. In the meantime Thunderbird is a great e-mail client.

I was actually gonna try to install my Nokia software using Wine. But Wine doesn't seem to respond to installable .msi files. I suppose if it were an .exe file it would at least TRY to install it.

Network TV stations, along with Netflix, seem to require that you install a plugin and/or use Internet Explorer to watch their shows/movies online. Not sure how I'm gonna get around that one.

Also I have a TV tuner for my computer. It doesn't work with Linux. I might have to buy a compatible one or else find a software solution for the one I already have.

I haven't mentioned power management. When I try to look at the settings I'm informed that power management is partially enabled. If I want energy-saving options I should (apparently) enable power-saving options in the BIOS and then re-compile my kernel. In other words, start over from scratch. Why is that necessary? How much good would it do even if I followed through with that process? Why do I not need to do that with the 'other' OS I'm using?

But that's a major thing holding me back from Linux. I like to leave my computer turned on but asleep. All Linux can do at the moment is turn off my monitors. So I have to boot into Windows in between sessions just to put my computer to sleep.

So in a lot of ways Linux is ready for me right now. If only I could stream Netflix movies and television. If only I could synchronize my cell-phone. OR at least try to install the Windows version of my cell-phone software. If only my computer could go to sleep in between all this.

There are a couple more scenarios I haven't even gone into. But Linux is coming along. Maybe next year...?

A Short Anti-Virus Odyssey

Earlier today:

The moment of truth had arrived. I was ready...

yes, ready to upgrade my anti-virus software. One way or another, I WOULD do whatever it took to get the job done. Regardless of the consequences. But there were big decisions to be made. Big, BIG decisions.

For you see, on the one hand, I could upgrade to the newest free version of AVG Anti-Virus. I still had version 7.1 installed on my computer. But version 7.5 had been available for days. DAYS. Possibly even weeks. Woe is me! Here I was, computing around and about with inferior, outdated software. Oy vey... (or whatever) what's a boy to do?

BUT! On the other hand, there was the AOL sponsored Active Virus Shield. This was all new to me. I'd only heard about it recently. And mind you, I'm not an AOL fan. Let's just leave it at that. But, the fact remained that they had struck a deal with a very reputable anti-virus company to offer a free version of their software, initially for AOL users only. It was rated very highly. More highly, in point of fact, than even the old reliable... yes, yes... AVG Anti-Virus. Oh, I know. But it's all true.

I decided that, even though AVG had served me well down through the years (2? 3 years? more?) that I needed to change with the times. I needed to be open to the possibilities. Yes! That's it! That's what I would do. I would make the switch. NoooOOOOOOOOOOOoooo..........

Yes.

Oh yes. Do it.

I, well, you see, I just, well... ok. I'll just spit it out. I UN-INSTALLED AVG ANTI-VIRUS. Then, I installed Active Virus Shield. But it wasn't that simple. Oh no. For you see, a re-boot was involved. I'm serious. Then, of course, there was the program update to get the latest protection. Finally, I ran the first full scan with my new software.

Guess what happened. Can you guess? I thought not. So I'll just tell you that it aPpEaRS that Active Virus Shield could maybe possibly be better than, well, what I was using before. The fact of the matter is that it found both a trojan and a malware item amongst my stuff. It offered to try and neutralize them, but was unable to do so in either case. Both files were items I was okay with deleting and that was the only option.

The trojan had, at some point, latched onto a simple (Notepad) text file I'd created quite some time ago. I'm a curious guy. I shouldn't have, but I did attempt to open it before deleting it. Originally it was just a few notes jotted down as a reminder of, well, something that seemed important at the time. But now, I couldn't open it. MY TEXT FILE DENIED ME ACCESS. Well, of course it wasn't a simple text file anymore. It was something more. Something darker. Ominous. And apparently... impenetrable. So I deleted it.