Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
December 23, 2007

Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter
http://www.terryscomputertips.com
A computer tips newsletter for users of PC's.

Volume 3, Number 28 — Sunday, December 23, 2007

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IN THIS WEEK'S ON-LINE ISSUE:
   1.   The Eee PC Grows More Powerful
   2.   Updates Last Week
   3.   My Computer Security Software Recommendations

Welcome to the on-line edition of my Terry's Computer Tips newsletter.

My emailed newsletter is sent weekly to individuals who have subscribed to the newsletter. Click here to subscribe. It's free!

1.  The Eee PC Grows More Powerful

Asus, the makers of the Eee PC, made a major change to their policies last week. Unlike many other companies, Asus went public with a press release.

As I wrote a month ago, I bought one of the new Eee PC ultra-mobile PC's (UMPC), also known as mini-notebooks, on November 1st. That was the day the Eee PC was released in the U.S.

The Eee PC 701 "4G", the model I bought, has a 900 MHz Celeron processor, 4 GB internal solid-state hard drive (think of a thumb drive / flash drive / USB drive, only it's internal and it is a LOT faster), 512 MB RAM, wireless 802.11g and wired Ethernet networking, built-in stereo speakers, built-in webcam, plus it's preloaded with the web browser, word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, games and lots more.

The Eee PC 4G is preloaded with a special version of Xandros Linux and defaults to a simple button- and tab-oriented operating system. It comes with a DVD containing the image to reload the machine, if you have to, from an external DVD drive (not included). It also includes drivers for Windows XP for those who want to install Windows XP instead.

The Eee PC 4G is priced at $399 (USD) and quickly sold out. And sold out. And sold out. Soon, a black version of the Asus Eee PC 4G was released (mine is white). And sold out...

The big change from Asus is in their warranty policy. These notebooks come, not with the typical 90-day or 180-day or even 1-year warranty. They have a 2-year warranty, at least the U.S. version does. I don't know about other countries.

But, there is a "Break this sticker and your warranty is void" sticker across one of the two screws that give access to the memory slot.

Asus announced that it was ok to break the seal to upgrade the memory! There is some question about the wording of the announcement with regard to which countries are affected.

Quoting from their press release:

SUS Computer International (“ASUS”) recently received feedback from one of its valued customers with questions concerning the purpose of a seal stating, “Warranty Void If Removed” over the access door to the single SODIMM slot on some models of the ASUS Eee PC. ASUS wishes to assure its customers that merely breaking or removing this kind of seal will not void the ASUS Limited Warranty. Although ASUS recommends that customers use ASUS-approved service facilities and components, ASUS is committed to honoring the terms of its Limited Warranty and making sure that its customers are free to make appropriate hardware and software modifications and upgrades, regardless of whether the service is performed by an approved facility, a non-approved service provider, or by the customers themselves.

The Eee PC hardware will access 2 GB of memory (I bought mine from Crucial Technologies — their memory wizard shows what kind the Eee PC needs).

I chose the 2 GB memory option and received it about 3 days later. The 2 GB memory I added was immediately recognized by the hardware when I booted. Unfortunately, the version of Xandros they installed will only recognize 1 GB. If I was doing it over, I'd buy the 1 GB memory, which was a lot cheaper.

That's where user-to-user support comes in handy. There is an independent web site that has the EeeUser Forum and EeeUser wiki. The forum and wiki are both searchable, so it was the work of minutes to find the solution. I can download a re-compiled OS that has support for 2 GB of RAM.

It looks like the next shipload has arrived (Asus has already sold 350,000 of these mini-notebooks). They seem to be back in stock again.

In addition, their big brother and little sister are now available, too.

The ASUS Eee PC 8G has 1 GB of RAM already installed and has an 8 GB solid-state hard drive. The 8G is priced at $499.

The ASUS Eee PC 2G Surf is designed for web surfing and email and not much more. It has 512 MB RAM and a 2 GB solid-state drive. It's available in black, lush green, blush pink and sky blue — all priced at $299.

 

2.  Updates Last Week

Microsoft (operating systems, email, web browser, office suites):
Microsoft releases almost all updates once per month, on the second Tuesday. This week did not include Patch Tuesday.

Firefox (web browser, http://www.mozilla.com, free):
No new version. Version 2.0.0.11 was released on Friday, November 30, 2007. This was a stabilityi update to correct a problem that was found in the previous release, Firefox 2.0.0.10.

Opera (web browser, http://www.opera.com, free):
New version this week. Version 9.25 was released on December 19th. This release is a recommended security upgrade.

Opera 9.50 beta 1 became available on October 25th. Based on the changelog, there are a lot of changes coming to Opera. But, beware, if you're using OperaMail, this is a one-way upgrade as it will change your mail storage system.

Netscape (web browser, http://browser.netscape.com, free):
New version this week! Version 9.0.0.5 was released during the week ending December 15th. The new release includes security fixes that were included in Firefox 2.0.0.11.

SeaMonkey (web browser, email, HTML editor, newsreader; http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey; free): New version! Version 1.1.7 was released during the week ending December 1, 2007. This update includes security and stability fixes.

Eudora (email, http://www.eudora.com):
No update last week. Version 7.1.0.9 was released October 11, 2006. Eudora is now free, with no ads and no "paid mode" option.

The first beta version of v8 (v8.0.0.b1) was released several weeks ago and is available from http://wiki.mozilla.org/Penelope_Releases .

Mozilla Thunderbird (email, http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird, free):
No new version this week. Thunderbird version 2.0.0.9 was released on November 14, 2007. This is primarily a security update.

OpenOffice (office suite — spreadsheet, word processor, presentations, graphics, web design; http://www.openoffice.org; free): New Version! Version 2.3.1 was released during the week ending December 8th. According to the Release Notes, this version does not include any new features. It is a security bug fix.

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3.  My Computer Security Software Recommendations

Anti-Virus

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

Volume 3, Number 28 — Sunday, December 23, 2007

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