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DEL.ICIO.USConfusion about computers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Several years ago I spent days getting ready for a costume party. I ended up dressing as the dictator of a South American country.
It was a pitiful effort — sword, pith helmet (hey, I know that dictators do not often wear pith helmets, but I found one in a closet) and a high school band uniform. It was the closest thing I had to a flashy and over-decorated uniform.
I made a big entrance at the party, and I could tell everyone was impressed. That’s because the guys were wearing tweed jackets and the women were wearing ordinary dresses.
I’m not sure why I thought it was a costume party. But it wasn’t. It was just a party.
I have spent a large part of my life being confused and mistaken. So don’t get your feelings hurt when I talk about some common sources for confusion and mistakes about computing — based on telephone calls and e-mails from readers.
Don’t feel too secure
Many of you think your anti-virus program is the Swiss Army Knife of computing — something that protects you against all threats. The name should offer a clue. It protects you against viruses. So you still need a firewall. Use the version that comes free with Windows if nothing else. You also need a program to hunt down adware and spyware and, if you wish, a program to stop spam. Unless your software is a “security suite� that includes all these programs, you need one of each.
Lightning does strike twice
There are enough misconceptions about lightning strikes to fill a small book. And, yes, it can strike the same location twice. You knew that, but there may be a few surprises in store.
For starters, your surge protector or your Uninterruptable Power Supply may help if lightning strikes at a distance. But it won’t protect your computer if lightning strikes a power line coming into your home. If lightning hits close enough, it will fry your gadgets. The only foolproof lightning protection is a simple one — unplug your electronic gadgets when there is a severe lightning storm. Do I always do this? No. But I should.
Here’s another misconception. Many of you believe the most common way for lightning to find its way into your home is over the electrical power line. But damage is done more often by lightning that follows the telephone line into your home. So — if you really want to be safe — disconnect telephone and cable connections to our computer in a big lightning storm.
Bill Gates wants to give you money
You’ve seen these e-mails, along with the ones from African nobility, that claim you’ll get all kinds of wonderful stuff if you forward a message to 100 of your closest friends. Then there are the e-mails that warn of a new virus so powerful that it will destroy your computer and maybe even give you bad breath.
Most mass e-mails, even from friends and family, are wrong. If something sounds too good to be true, or offers you huge amounts of money for doing something really simple, then take my word: It’s not true.
Hard disks provide permanent storage
You hard disk will fail. This isn’t an “if� it is a “when.�
If you do not make back-up copies of the information stored there you will eventually lose it — telephone numbers, e-mails, tax records, Aunt Emily’s recipe for spaghetti sauce, everything.
At the very least, copy essential records to a CD once or twice a week. Using a back-up program — either the one furnished by Windows or one from the software store — is even better.
Internet coffee shops are safe
It’s a convenient way to work while on the road — grab a cup of coffee while your laptop connects to the wireless connection in the coffee shop or hotel. Since so many business people use these connections, it’s bound to be safe. Right?
Wrong. Most of these wireless networks are wide-open. To prove it, I sat down in a coffee shop with a security expert. With a couple of mouse taps we were watching passwords and user names scroll by on the screen of the expert’s laptop.
You don’t need to be an expert to peek at stuff like that. I could list Internet addresses that offer free programs that let you do what the expert did. Plenty of crooks use them. That’s why it’s smart to use a VPN (virtual private network) connection if your employer furnishes it, or to rely on a wired connection.
I’d like to hear your own nominations for this list.
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment | Categories: Columns
Comments
By Patrick B
November 10, 2006 08:17 AM | Link to this
Lightning I’ve had direct experience about lightning over phone lines. I once had a lightning strike take out my modem card. The fried modem prevented my system from even booting. It took me a while to troubleshoot why my system wouldn’t boot to isolate it to a blown modem card.
Backup I’ve become a big fan of Carbonite for online backups of my data. Its a lot cheaper ($50/yr) than any of the other online services and it allows for unlimited amount of data to be backed up. It can be optimized to allow traffic priority on the network.
Coffee Shop Security If you don’t have access to your companies VPN or you just want to safely access your home computer while on the road, get the free LogMeIn client. This is an amazing product for free. They have a Pro version that adds the capability of file transfer between systems. But if you just want to do remote control of another system, the free version is all you need. Once you have remote control of your home PC, you can surf safely to anywhere on the Internet as if you were home. And your connection to the remote PC is SSL encrypted. You do have WPA security enabled on your home wireless router don’t you? :-) Patrick B
By CarlosQ
November 10, 2006 08:58 AM | Link to this
Bill…. Am getting messages from AVGFREE that it will not continue to exist effective January. Is this fact? What options exist for free antivirus?
By Bill
November 10, 2006 11:08 AM | Link to this
Hi Carlos, I’ve been away from the newspaper for a week or so. In fact, I was staying at the home of my brother-in-law, another Carlos.
Just before I left I contacted Grisoft asking if it planned to discontinue the free version. I did that using my work e-mail and will check for an answer - and post it here - when I return to the office on Monday. I did check the Web site for the free product and they’re sure offering no indication of discontinuing it there. I do know that they are trying to find and stop users who install it on a network of computers at home - the license is for just one computer in a household if I remember correctly. Anyway, I’ll post an answer here on Monday or Tuesday.
Bill
By Mike
November 10, 2006 11:52 AM | Link to this
From Grisoft’s website: GRISOFT is announcing a new version of the AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition. This new 7.5 version with improved performance and full compatibility with the latest Windows Vista version is available. Users that are using AVG Free 7.1 will be provided with a specific dialog, within the next few weeks, with the opportunity to choose the right option fulfilling their needs. AVG Free 7.1 version will be discontinued on 15th of Jan 2007.
By No PC Necessary
November 10, 2006 12:19 PM | Link to this
Bill; I’d like to hear your views on WebTV. Seems to me that if all one does is use email and surf the web, it might be the way to go. What do you think? NoPCrequired
By Bill
November 10, 2006 09:58 PM | Link to this
Hi No PC - I am not a big fan of Web TV - especially these days when computers are so inexpensive. The advantage of Web TV was cost - and I guess it still is to a degree, but at $200 there isn’t much of a price difference between buying a Web TV (it’s got a different name now I think, but it’s still the same thing) and an el cheapo computer.
All that said, all the e-mails I’ve had were from Web TV users who enjoyed it. So maybe I’m missing something here.
By Rick
November 11, 2006 09:06 AM | Link to this
Too many people either don’t know about security problems, or ignor the advice of experts. It’s the “it can’t happen to me” syndrom. Being a former computer geek I wired my house when I built it 15 years ago. My dsl modem is connected to a Ethernet broadband router which has a hardware firewall. In addition to that I have the Microsoft firewall turned on. Also, I use Norton antivirus, which has antiworm software included. For backup I have a USB harddrive which is only powered during backup, or retrievel. I also run Adaware once a week. I still sometimes wonder how secure my network is. Am I being paranoid?
By Pieron
November 12, 2006 02:51 PM | Link to this
Windows XP Backup will not backup to a CD. Any suggestions re purchased backup software?
By Floyd Hamilton
November 12, 2006 11:34 PM | Link to this
I am now receiving messages from my “free” AVG anti virus program that I will have to purchase it in January 2007. Just thought you should know that there is no free lunch and apparently soon to be no free anti virus program.
By Wayne
November 13, 2006 12:25 AM | Link to this
So what are us Clark Howard types to do with AVG going from Free to Not Free version of AntiVirus software.
By Mike Lindsey
November 17, 2006 06:53 PM | Link to this
Hopefully you can help me with this. I’m trying to print from a laptop; the printer, an Epson CX3810, is attached to a desktop. I’ve already loaded the printer software on the laptop and set both computers to share the printer. However, when trying to print I get the error message ‘printer not ready’. What am I missing?