Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
November 4, 2007

Volume 3, Number 22 — Sunday, November 4, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 

4.  Eee PC - The Programs

Unlike Windows PC's that come with virtually no additional programs, the Linux operating system used by the Eee PC almost always comes with many other useful (and fun) programs at no cost.

The Eee PC is no different. The Eee PC shows up ready for action, with an easy-to-use, easy to understand interface. Across the top, we find six tabs: Internet, Work, Learn, Play, Settings and Favorites.

In the image on the below left, we can see the contents of the Internet tab. The Web Mail button has sub-buttons for several prominent web-based email systems. The Web button opens the popular Firefox web browser, which I use under Windows.

The Network button shows the networks to which the Eee PC is contected and those from its past. Wireless Networks is the button to select and configure the wireless connection to a specific network. This is where we input the encryption key (which the Eee PC will remember).

The Work tab gives us access to the word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software components of OpenOffice, the free office suite. Mail is the Thunderbird email program from the Mozilla Foundation. The File Manager resembles the Windows XP File Manager, so it's an easy transition. Dictionary is a nice 85,000 word dictionary — but be sure to click the English-English selection for best results. Defaults to English/Chinese, that is, an English word and the definition in Chinese.

By the way, did you notice the small green Start button at the lower left. That's turned off in the interface by default, but there's a lot of information already on the Web about tweaking the Eee PC!

(click on the image for a larger version)

(click on the image for a larger version)

The Learn tab is the entry point to one of my favorite applications, the astronomy/planetarium program KStars. It's also the place to find a typing game, a letter game and a Hangman game.

The Play tab is another fun place. Of course, there's a Games button there (watch out for the highly addictive Frozen Bubble game!). The Media Player button starts the music and video application, which can easily play video MPEG-2 (.mpg) files from USB2.0 flash drives or from the internal solid state drive.

(click on the image for a larger version)

(click on the image for a larger version)

The Settings tab gives us a number of ways to modify the defaults in the Eee PC. About the only changes I've made so far have been to turn down the volume (can do this from the bottom status bar icon, too), change the touchpad's sensitivity to recognize faster double-clicks and to turn on VoiceCommand.

The Favorites tab is where the user is able to select their favorite pre-installed applications and pull them together to one menu. That way, I can get to Frozen Bubble more quickly <grin>.

(click on the image for a larger version)

(click on the image for a larger version)

Do I like my new Eee PC? My answer is a resounding Yes!

Does my wife like it? Yes, she does, too. This was a good purchase.

Currently, NewEgg (where I bought mine) is showing about a week backlog. Amazon.com is reporting 1 to 4 weeks backlog.

ASUS Eee PC 4G - Pearl White Intel processor 7" Wide VGA Integrated Graphics Eee PC ASUS Eee PC 4G - Pearl White Eee PC Intel processor 7" Wide VGA 512MB 4GB Integrated Graphics

5.  My Computer Security Software Recommendations

Anti-Virus

I no longer recommend Trend Micro's products. At this point, my sole recommendation for anti-virus is NOD32 from ESET, which is my choice for my family's computers.

That may change, but at this time, Trend Micro's PC-cillin Internet Security — is reporting at least one Commission Junction URL as "Dangerous." The URL that was flagged was the domain for the ad's image. PC-cillin recommended that users close their web browsers and not visit the site that linked to it again. My issue is that Commission Junction is a well-respected affiliate sales system used by many computer and non-computer-related companies.

Interestingly enough, Trend Micro sells its products through Commission Junction's affiliate system, too, including having using the same domain that they complain about.

Obviously someone at Trend Micro made a mistake, but since this subject came up on an ad image displayed on my site, the warning was given to a user visiting my site! Totally unacceptable.

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. "Enough 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.

Related articles:

• Anti-Virus Programs and Online Scanners
• Free Online Antivirus Scan
• NOD32 Anti-Virus Review - A Look at NOD32

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 Personal Firewall.

You can try the full-featured "paid version" of Sunbelt Personal Firewall free for 30 days — after that, you can register it or, if you're using it on a home non-business computer, you can let it revert to the free, lesser-function license. Sunbelt Personal Firewall is $19.95 (with discounts for multiple computers!) for a non-expiring license for the program and includes one year of their updates subscription.

Related articles:

• The Internet Versus You
• Do I Need a Firewall Program?
• Sunbelt Personal Firewall Review

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. It is also my personal choice for my PC's and my family's PC's.

Sunbelt released their CounterSpy v2 in early February and I promptly updated my computers to it. Version 2 greatly improved CounterSpy's performance and reduced its load on the computer when it was scanning.

Recently (late July, 2007), Sunbelt released v2.5 of CounterSpy, which again both improved CounterSpy's performance against malware and reduced its impact on system resources and responsiveness when its scanning.

Related articles:

• Fighting Against Spyware & Malware
• CounterSpy Review

Anti-spam Software

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

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.

For a wireless router, I recommend the Linksys WRT54G wireless router. I'm using the relatively new version 6 of this router.

If you don't want wireless, I recommend the Linksys BEFSR41 wired router. Either way, based on my experience, I recommend Linksys routers for price, reliability and Linksys' habit of releasing updated firmware for their products..

See these related articles:

• Wireless Security
• Wi-Fi Hotspots and Computer Security
• Wireless Networking Problems & Wireless Networking Security