ANSWERS TO READER’S EMAILS

I’ve received a number of emails, all complimentary. I thank the readers for that. I’d like to go a step farther. My column isn’t read by every subscriber to ToThePoint. My writing needs to be tuned to those who do read my column. So please email me about what you like and don’t like. Are the columns too long, or too short? Too technical or too basic?

I can’t answer the questions that subscribers have emailed me. It’d take all my time. Some questions are so wed to the user’s installation that I’d have to be at the computer to see what’s going on – or install Spyware to watch!

However, I can comment on recurring themes.

One theme asks that I cover security issues on other operating systems, primarily Linux and Mac OS X. There are two reasons I won’t. The first is that not so many subscribers run anything but Windows. The primary reason is that I’m not qualified. I run Windows. I have used UNIX from the server side, but this is of little use to desktop users. You’ll have to go elsewhere for advice on Linux and Mac.

In another theme, users say they’ve bought numerous anti-virus, anti-adware, anti-spyware and other programs to install on one or more computers. They wish to know which of these are best and whether they interfere with one another.

In the limited space I have, and given the limited time I can devote to this column, I can’t compare dozens of programs. If you want comparisons of software performing similar functions go to P.C. Magazine. Its URL (Universal Resource Locator), or Link, is www.pcmag.com

On the toolbar at the top, click ‘Reviews’.

In Reviews, scroll about halfway down the page and click Software:

On the Software page you have numerous choices germane to security. You might try

Antispam tools
Antivirus
Event monitoring
Firewalls
Security
Utilities

You’ll spend a lot of time comparing and may well decide to choose different applications than those I recommend.

A few things to remember. If you run too many security related programs your computer will run about as fast as a worm in molasses. If you run two different anti-virus programs you’re asking for conflict and trouble. Norton has a reputation for conflict with other security programs. The programs I’ve been recommending don’t conflict with one another. The PC Magazine guides won’t discuss conflict because there are too many products to compare.

If you install too many programs on your computer your Windows Registry will grow fat, fragmented and slow down. Most Uninstall programs don’t delete every registry entry or every file and folder. If you try lots of them your registry will grow fat and sluggish even if you uninstall them.

So, how to best avoid the practice of buying numerous programs to combat viruses, Trojans, Spyware and other intruders? Several subscribers emailed me with questions that arose from doing so.

Why not just download the free trial versions? Almost all the manufacturers offer free trial versions. Certainly 15 to 30 days is sufficient to determine whether the program is the person’s cup of tea?

Be careful, though, about gobbling up free software and installing it all. Then you have a bunch of programs grabbing the same Windows hooks simultaneously, which is a great way to crash your computer. Far better to compare programs by testing trial editions of them one at a time.

Now let’s look at software piracy. Many of the piracy sites are popular, as you can see from the screenshots below:

Here’s my Google toolbar for a Chinese piracy site. Notice the green fill on the PageRank bar. This is a little known site compared to others, yet it is no secret.

I purposely avoided publishing a screen shot of the whole page, because Internet Explorer provides the link. So below is the content part of the page. You can see a few of the applications available for download.

Now let’s take a more popular site. It’s so popular I don’t mind mentioning its name. BitTorrent, a popular but hardly the largest person-to-person (P2P) file sharing organization. Here’s its Google toolbar:

BitTorrent’s page rank is way up there, but lower than Kazaa, Limeware, e-Donkey and a few others. Obviously piracy is habitual. Sometimes the sites can get so popular that they have to take a leave of absence lest the authorities shut them down. For example:

I don’t aim this at anyone in particular, but if you’ve been getting emails regarding conflicts and comparisons between various Spyware, antivirus programs and the like,they could come from visiting pirate sites.

It’s a terrible security risk to visit such sites. They are notorious servers of Spyware, cookies, registry entries and Trojans. They slow your system down to a crawl. They interfere with Windows itself, with Microsoft Office, and other basic functions.

Penny-wise, pound foolish.

Dennis Turner