Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
February 4, 2007

Volume 2, Number 34 — Sunday, February 4, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

5.  The SeaMonkey Internet Suite (Free!)

Category: Internet Suite — web browser, email, newsgroups, chat, HTML editor, address book
Operating Systems: Windows, Linux, Mac, OS/2, Solaris and more
Price: Free

Once upon a time, Netscape was THE Internet web browser -- and it was a commercial product. Then, along came the big bad wolf. He dreamed of world (wide web) conquest and so he wrote his own web browser; then, he gave it away with the operating system he sold. It was bad, but it was free and everyone got it whether they wanted it or not. And, his monopoly grew...

Netscape (the company) eventually sold itself and became a part of AOL, but not before they released a snapshot of the web browser source code to an open source foundation that they created. Thus was born the Mozilla Internet Suite.

Most people today recognize the name Mozilla and think of Firefox. For a long time, the development plans called for independent development of a next generation web browser and a next generation email & newsgroups program (often, this can be the same program with dual capabilities). After development, they would be merged into the Mozilla Suite to bring it up to date.

We saw Firefox born as the new web browser. Thunderbird was the next generation email/newsgroups program. But, the Mozilla FOundation decided to focus on these two applications and stop development on the Mozilla Internet Suite product.

As usual when a product is dropped, there are a lot of unhappy users. In this case, and based on Mozilla's own growth out of the earlier, proprietary Netscape web browser, a group of enthusiasts negotiated with the Mozilla Foundation. They managed to take over the maintenance and development of the Mozilla Suite.

They named their community-written project SeaMonkey.

Quoting the home page of the SeaMonkey project:

The SeaMonkey project is a community effort to deliver production-quality releases of code derived from the application formerly known as "Mozilla Application Suite". Whereas the main focus of the Mozilla Foundation is on Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird, our group of dedicated volunteers works to ensure that you can have "everything but the kitchen sink" — and have it stable enough for corporate use.

SeaMonkey 1.1 was released on January 18, 2007. You can download the current (or older versions) from the SeaMonkey Releases web page.

You probably want the "Official Build" although there are other versions contributed by volunteer workers for different platforms (even OS/2) and versions in other languages. Get the Official Build labelled Windows (32bit) Full Installer.

 

6.  My Computer Security Software Recommendations

Anti-Virus

For your anti-virus needs (and, yes, you do have anti-virus needs!) I recommend anti-virus software from Trend Micro (PC-cillin Internet Security, if you want a combination package) or ESET (NOD32, my choice).

I'm glad to see that Trend Micro has taken a major, user-friendly step with their PC-cillin Internet Security 2007(12-months) - Digital - $49.95 - Shopping Cart Link package by licensing it for up to 3 home users. You can also get a 3-year license 36-months - Digital - $119.95 - Shopping Cart Link) offers anti-virus, anti-spam, and firewall for your PC and PDA. TrendMicro provides an easy-to-use product that is from one of the big names in the anti-virus world.

I'm often asked about several other popular anti-virus or anti-virus combination packages. Yes, I realize that they are not in my recommendation list. " 'nuff said..."

My personal choice is the ESET's small, fast NOD32 anti-virus program, which offers a FREE 30-day evaluation license. I consider NOD32 to be the cream of the crop in anti-virus protection. Unlike some of the others, ESET offers multiple-year licenses also, including updates to the program in the multiple-year license.

Many antivirus programs will offer you an anti-virus signature subscription renewal when your subscription renews. I strongly recommend against this option. Vendors routinely improve the capabilities and speed fo the programs also.

If you update only the signatures, you miss any program improvements. Fortunately, NOD32's subscriptions include both program updates and signature updates.

Read more about anti-virus programs on my web site.

Firewall Software

If you get the PC-cillin Internet Security package above, you are covered from a firewall point of view.

While the Windows XP firewall is much better than no firewall at all, don't count on the Windows XP firewall to meet your needs. You need a two-way firewall, which the Windows XP firewall is not!.

The Windows XP firewall does not control outbound communications originating from your computer — and you should want to have control if adware/trojans/spyware or even commercial products want to talk to the Internet.

Do you want Windows Media Player to call home every time you play something? It does! Do you use the Search function in Windows Explorer to find things on your hard drive? Did you know that every time you search, Windows Explorer talks to Microsoft — I didn't know that when I ran ZoneAlarm, but the Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall flags that for me, and I can stop or allow it to happen.

Many other programs call home when you run them, too.

If you don't get either of the above multi-function packages, I recommend my choice for a firewall program is Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall. You can try the full-featured "paid version" of Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall free for 30 days — after that, you can register it or, if you're using it on a home computer, you can let it revert to the free, lesser-function license. Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall is $19.95 for a non-expiring license for the program and includes one year of their updates subscription.

Read more about the need for firewalls in my The Internet Versus You and Do I Need a Firewall Program? articles.

Anti-Spyware / Anti-Adware Software

CounterSpy, from Sunbelt Software, has received many kudos from the computer press for its always-running and periodic full system scans. CounterSpy is my choice for anti-spyware / anti-adware. I use CounterSpy on my notebook (my main computer!), on my wife's computer and on my son's computer. I highly recommend this program.

Anti-spam Software

In today's Internet world, the question is not "if" you will get spam, but when and how much.

I use and now I recommend PopFile as my first choice for handling spam. PopFile sits on your computer, between your email program and your ISP mailbox, and handles emial as it downloads.

PopFile uses a different approach to handle spam than some other programs do — it does nothing to reduce spam. It is designed as an email classification tool — you train it to recognize spam and any other type of email that you want to classify. These classifications can help you sort your emails into appropriate folders in your email program.

Sunbelt Software, who makes the anti-spyware program CounterSpy (which I use and recommend) and the firewall that I use and recommend (Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall) also has a well-regarded, award-winning anti-spam program called iHateSpam for Outlook and Outlook Express. Since I don't use Outlook or Outlook Express for email, I haven't tried iHateSpam.

Mailwasher Pro is my first choice to handle spam before it ever gets into your computer's Inbox. Mailwasher Pro uses on-line Realtime Black Lists mail servers sending spam recently, "training" by you of what you think is spam, and your own "friends" and "blacklist" lists.

Mailwasher Pro can even bounce spam messages, as if your email address was not valid, although the usefulness and appropriateness of this is questionable. There is a free version called "Mailwasher," but it omits the functions that I consider critical for this purpose -- such as safely previewing the emails safely before they ever get to your email inbox.

Cable/DSL Router

If you have a cable modem or a DSL modem, you need to have another layer of inexpensive protection between you and the Internet. A cable/DSL router isolates your computer from direct connection to the Internet. Your computer can easily request your email, web pages, etc. through the router. The responses come back to the router and are smoothly routed to your computer. But, someone on the Internet side of the router can not initiate a connection to your computer — they can only respond to your request.

Even if you only have one computer to connect to your cable or DSL modem, I recommend that you purchase and use a cable/DSL router because of the protection it can give you against attempts to attack through some flaws in Windows itself.

A router isolates your local network, whether it is only one computer or several, from the Internet by actually making it a separate network. The router gets the "public" IP address and handles all your outbound communications and the responses to them. But, it blocks computers on the Internet side from being able to initiate communications with your computer! This will prevent you from falling prey to many worms that try to attack security holes in Windows itself.

I've changed my recommended wireless router. A number of friends who have bought WRT54G wireless routers are having occasional "green death" problems — all the lights on the router say it's connected to the cable and to the computers, but they can't get to the Internet without a power-off/power-on on the router.

Why is this happening with this long-respected router? My own WRT54G is version 2.1. It turns out that Linksys has been keeping the same model number on the router while they changed version numbers. This has been a regular practice with Linksys and was usually nothing to be concerned about.

But, in version 5, they changed the router's operating system. Versions 1 through 4 used Linux for its operating system. Effectively, they created a brand new model and gave it the same model number as the respected, frequently-recommended model.

Even more disturbing, they brought the Linux-based router back with a new model number, as if it is the new model and are marketing it to Linux users, while it's appropriate for anyone.

So, I changed my recommendation to what appears to be the renamed "old" model — the Linux-based Linksys WRT54GL 802.11g wireless router (Amazon.com or Buy.com ). If you don't want wireless now, or at any time, the function is easily turned off in the router's menu. You may be able to find a wired (that is, non-wireless) Linksys router on sale. If you don't want wireless, I recommend the Linksys BEFSR42 wired router (Amazon.com or Buy.com). Either way, based on my experience, I recommend Linksys routers.

Read more on my Wireless Security web page.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Volume 2, Number 34 — Sunday, February 4, 2007

Copyright © 2007 Terry A. Stockdale.  All rights reserved.