Editorial

If there are questions or problems that you would like to have answers to, or if you would like to respond to something we have said, please feel free to e-mail us at sales@softecnb.com.

Spyware.  (hold your breath, this is a long one) If you are like most of us, Spyware has become a curse word in your vocabulary.  You are probably tired of the IT people using it for an excuse for your system being slow and erratic.  You keep asking for solutions and the person behind the counter goes on for 10 minutes talking about hackers, firewalls, spammers and using words like "trojan", "malware", "security threats" and the like.  After the dizziness passes, you go back to the office and watch the pop ups float across your screen and ignore them, because you don't want to go back to the computer store again. Well, you are not alone.  While the World Health Organization discusses the possibility of a new Pandemic Flu virus, the computer industry has been dealing with the exponential growth of a new type of computer "virus": Spyware (or Malware).  Microsoft has recently purchased the software company Giant, in order to get their expertise in detecting and removing spyware.  Other companies are scrambling to get a product to market that works.  Our experience tells us that no one is exactly there, ....yet. So, what is the big deal?  What is this software and why is it such a pain?  That's where the problem really comes to bear.  Spyware, or Malware, is such a broad term for a huge array of software.  Some is innocent and harmless and others are able to take over your computer and allow a hacker full access to your whole system.  Most people do not have the time or expertise to sort out the good, bad and ugly versions of Spyware.  But they do have the right to ask, "How did it get on my computer?" The problem with this question is that the software does not want you to know it got there.  Many forms will install themselves just because you visited a web page, no questions asked.  Other versions will pop up a window and could say something like "Your computer is vulnerable to viruses.  Would you like protection?"  Then the user clicks their reply and regardless of their answer, yes or no, the software installs anyway.  Yet other versions of spyware get installed when the user installs an addon to Windows, like "smileys", cute cursors, gator, internet time, some internet based games, some MSN addons or "enhancements", ...etc,...you get the picture? The problem is as simple as this.  You may, or may not, have software on your computer that may, or may not, be tracking everything you are doing, that you may, or may not, have installed on purpose and one software package may. or may not, be able to detect it and remove it.  Cool! ...........Not! But there is some hope.  Our experience has shown us that a multi-vendor solution works quite well.  For example, we use Adaware from Lavasoft, Spybot by Patrick M. Kolla and Antispy from Microsoft.  What one package misses, the others will probably pick up.  But wait,... there's more.  Our experience also tells us that some of the spyware doesn't like to be removed.  In fact, it can go so far as kill windows totally, or just keep you from surfing or getting email.  EEEEKKK.  Many people have mistakenly blamed the spyware removal tool for this, but it has been the spyware itself.  If you have some of this stuff, all I can tell you is that there are ways around most of it, but a "format - reload" is probably quicker and more productive.  Just backup your data first. If you are trying to avoid spyware, or improve your security, here are some tips: Keep your windows updated to the latest patches. Watch your surfing habits. Have a hardware firewall installed. (an extra level of protection) Install Antispy, Spybot or Adaware. ( or all) Let Spybot immunize your system. DON'T open attachments in your e-mail unless you are sure it is safe!!!!! Use the later OS's like XP pro. (I do mean this) Consider trying other surfers, like Firefox. Keep the virus program up to date and current version. Keep MSN clean. Stay away from Internet Games. Go to a pure Linux environment. (Just joking.....maybe) This has been a long article.  Thank you for your patience.  I have really  just scratched the surface of a very complex issue.  The best advice I can give in this matter is: "If in doubt, call a professional (like SofTec) for help and always have a backup of your data." February 28th, 2005

Quick login for XP. So, you were used to Windows 2000 professional and now you have XP.  You have different users setup on you system, but you would like to have it login as a specific user automatically.  You say "Windows 2000 could do it!" Well, guess what?  So can XP!  Bring up your run line, type in  "control userpasswords2" and click OK.  Does that interface look familiar?  Give it a try. Note, this is not recommended in an environment where security is an issue. August 24th. 2004

Keep it Simple, Silly. Your tired of pop ups and stuff like that. It seems that every where you go on the Internet, you are getting annoyed by a pop up or some page you didn't ask for. And you installed the latest "Pop up stopper". Since then the pop ups are worse and the system seems to hang more frequently. Well, the problem may be in your "solution". Some of the software floating out on the Internet as free downloads come at great cost. Some, not all, but some of these programs are worse than the problems they are supposed to fix. The moral of this story is to keep your system simple. Don't install any software unless you really need it and you trust it. (And don't just go by the word of the download site.) A simple, clean computer will easily outperform a cluttered one. July 15th. 2003

Simple Security. Want to know a fairly simple way to make Outlook Express a lot more secure? Turn off the preview pane. The Preview pane is the window under the list of e-mails in your in-box. The problem with the preview pane is that it actually makes the e-mail active that you have highlighted in your in-box. This means that if there was malicious code in the e-mail, it would have run and done it's dirty work. Even without double clicking on the e-mail and opening it! To turn off the preview pane, click on "view" in the menubar, then "layout", then uncheck the "show preview pane" check box. Then when you get e-mail, you can just delete the e-mails that you know are garbage, which if you're like me, would be 90% of them. Oh!, remember to never respond to the junk mail to have yourself removed from a list. In most cases that just lets them know you are reading the e-mails. July 2nd. 2003

Expanding. You have probably already seen some changes at SofTec, both on our web site and in our staff. This is due our commitment to improve our service to you, our customer. Dave is no longer teaching at Atlantic Business College and is devoting all his efforts to increasing customer satisfaction at SofTec. We have also added Chris Balzer to our staff to help the team handle the increasing work load. It was a major decision for Dave to leave the staff at ABC, where he had been teaching advanced networking theory and practice during the mornings for the past 5 years. He had really come to know the staff quite well, and had really appreciated their personal qualities and their commitment to giving their students the best education possible. They are a great team and it is a great school. June 20th. 2003

Hyper-Threading (HT) Processors. (A quick overview) This comes from a really fast sewing machine..... NOT. Intel had recently released their new 3.06 Ghz Hyper-Threading Pentium 4 processor. This new design reports to the operating system that the motherboard has two processors. This is dependent on the 2 conditions that the operating system is multiprocessor compatible and the bios on the motherboard supports HT. Although not really 2 processors, it is able to run two threads of software simultaneously. This can really boost performance if a computer is running more that one application at a time, which is normal in everyday use. Intel initially used this technology in their server processors, like the Zeon. Although the Zeon can be used in a real multiprocessor environment, where the Pentium 4 cannot. All new Pentium 4 processors. starting with the 3.06 Ghz, will have this technology included. Feb21st. 2003

Tablet PCs. Ha! I thought it would be easy to keep this page updated. I guess not. Has anyone out there seen the new Tablet PC? Pretty neat technology, to be sure. Takes OCR to a much higher level, as well as just marking up a document or presentation. It uses a new data type called "ink", which is what you write by hand onto your presentation or document and saves it with the file. Some models have built in keyboards, others have more ingenious ways of inputting data. They are more than just a laptop and I suspect the pricing will reflect that. It should be interesting to see how they take off. Oct 24th, 2002

Old news is fun news. When I had decided to bring back this editorial page, I had to dig to find the old one. Well, I know I am a sentimental kind of guy, but I just couldn't delete the old editorials. Have a look at some of them, just for laughs. The technology has changed a bit, hasn't it? July 15th, 2002

New Celerons ? Is it really true that Intel is releasing some new Celerons? The new units have speeds up to 700 Mhz. But the kicker is: Not all the new Celerons have all the new improvements. Some Celerons (the 600, 566 and 533a) have Internet Streaming SIMD extensions, which contain about 70 new instructions. (Now that sounds a lot like the P III on a 66 Mhz bus.) Talk about buyer beware! How will the shopper really be able to compare systems, without a technical guide, to see which processor is really in the computer they are buying? July 5th, 2000

Summer's coming ! It's scary, but the year that many were waiting for is almost half over. Time goes on, whether or not we want it to. Just look at the last time I updated this site. 5 Months is a little long. Have you tried Windows 2000 yet? I like it! It does work good, even faster that 98 if you have 64 MB ram. Then again, Windows 95 is faster than 98,... a snail is faster than 98,... come to think of it, most anything is faster than 98. Windows 2000 is very stable, according to Microsoft. I will admit, from the installations that I have done, it is very stable. Even more stable than 98!,.... then again,...most anything.....!(you know what I mean) One thing that might surprise you is the price of 2000 professional. A system with 2000 with probably only cost about $ 80.00 more than one with 98. If you are a business user or laptop user, you really should consider taking the 2000 option. It is light years ahead of 98. May 16th, 2000

It's over ! Y2K is here and gone. Life still goes on. Some minor trouble, but tomorrow might be interesting, as many more businesses will be open and active. It was neat to see the new year covered on TV in so many different countries. It is both a large and a small world! I think I will travel the yard sales this year and buy a generator. I have always wanted one. It would be handy for camping. January 3rd, 2000

Why not ! There are a couple of products that I am surprised that customers are not buying as standard equipment. The first is a DVD ROM and the second is the super disk floppy drive. Each product is only a slight increase in cost, but such a high return on a good system. Compare the price of a P III with a 1.44 and 48X with a similar system with a 120 MB super disk and a DVD 4. September 1st, 1999

Give it some credit ! We have had some customers commenting to us about the Celeron chip and how they have been told it is no good. I think they have been severely misinformed. People have been trying to sell the Non-Intel brand processors (Like the AMD K6 and others) as better then the Celeron. What is their definition of better. Faster,..., more compatible,... less compatible,... cheaper,...??? The Celeron is made by Intel and deserves a break. The little processor works good and is very compatible. In an entry level system or in most business offices it would be the processor of choice. Try one for a spin! You'll be surprised at what you see! July 26th, 1999

The pace quickens ! Just a note to advise you of falling hard drive prices. Hard drives are increasing in size so rapidly that the prices are about as stable as Jello in an earthquake. The UDMA 33 drives are really going cheap right now, but the 66's are not really much more. Who would have imagined a 10 GB drive for under $ 300.00 Canadian?

The pace quickens II! Just a note to advise you of a new motherboard by QDI that will accept 2 Celeron processors. With Windows 2000, which can accept multiple processors, this should prove to be an incredible, cheap, "hot rod". Now you can blow the doors off of a PII 400 with 2 Celeron 366's and still have money in the bank. Should prove to be interesting. I will give you the details when they become available.

Y2K Update I have been getting more and more questions about the Year 2000 problem. It has many people very concerned and confused. Well, on the computer front, there are steps to take to avoid trouble and I have addressed them in a previous article. At this time, I would like to recommend two software packages that you can use to test your office systems. The first is a nice little package from Ontrack called the Y2K advisor. This is available from Ontrack (www.ontrack.com) or we can get you a copy. It is supplied from them at no charge and is designed to test your BIOS and RTC for compatibility. I have tried it and it seems to work nicely. It has its own booting operating system and step by step instructions. The other software that you might want to look at is Norton 2000. It includes software to test your hardware and ALSO your software. Your software will be by far the biggest Y2K issue that you will have to face. Norton 2000 will search your hard drive and compare your installed software with a database to see if there are any issues. Depending on the issue, it can also tell you what patch or upgrade is needed. I have tried it and it does do a fairly good job, when you consider the enormity of the task. It does make some assumptions that may or may not be correct for your system. It may not be perfect (or even oatmeal) but it will help you at least to confirm what software needs to be looked at and will even test your spreadsheets for "safe" formulas. December 15th, 1998

This time of year! (Warning:This has nothing to do with computers) It is Halloween again! It is that time of year that reminds me of why our world is in such a mess. Have you ever noticed the startling focus on evil things and costumes. And we pass this on to innocent children! What are we thinking?!? Even if a person has no religious belief, doesn't it sound a little strange that we try to pass on death, pain, torture and evil as fun? How can we condemn leaders or dictators, either living or dead, that engaged in vicious activity when we allow an event like Halloween to focus on the same things. You may say "Come on, Dave, it is just costumes and fun!". Well, take a closer look and see the imagery. It is time we examine ourselves and choose what we believe about life. A quote found in the old testament is still very valid for today: Josh 24:15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." (NIV) How about you? October 30th, 1998

Give my head a Shake!!! I don't mean to sound sarcastic, but I will anyway. All the time I hear from people complaining that they bought a computer or had one upgraded and it keeps on failing or will not work right and they have to keep taking it back. They had the work done at the cheapest possible price and they still wonder why all the other computer shops had quoted them more for the same work. Duhh!! The other shops would have sold a product that worked! In this industry, just like most others today, you get what you pay for. It is too competitive out there to make a lot of money in one deal. Since the margin is so tight, most prices are very similar for similar product. You can pretty much bet that if a price is a lot lower for a product at one store, the product may not be comparable to the others. Don't be fooled! Now, computers are not perfect and can be prone to odd problems at the best of times, but at least give yourself a break use decent hardware. October 26th, 1998

Year 2000, Why the Hype? This is not meant to be a complete discussion about the year 2000 issue, but is just a simple "what is it ?" note. The year 2000 issue can affect two parts of your computer, the hardware and the software. The hardware is the easier issue to resolve. There are many utilities out on the net that can test your BIOS for compatibility. Or you can set your clock to different times and test to see if it fails or not. Either way, it is not a tremendous strain on the brain. What can be an issue is if you have a lot of different software installed on your system and you need to find out what is compatible and what isn't. Some software will not even run if the year is past 1999. Other software will fail in different areas, like date calculations, interest charges,...etc. What do you do? Jump out the window? Throw out the windows? Stand in the deepest jungle of Africa and scream? I guess most of these suggestions are a little extreme, depending on the time of day. What your solution could be is found in software like Norton 2000, which will test your BIOS and scan your drive and see what you have for software. It will then compare that to a database to see if any patches are needed for your software. I suspect it can miss some of the less popular software, but probably does a fair job with the mainline products. You will probably start to see lots of different products on the market that will do the same thing. The Year 2000 market is definitely a fast growing one. What happens if you don't do anything? The world will end as you know it on January 1st, 2000!!. NOT! If you are a business user and have equipment and software that is not 2000 compliant, then give your staff some time off for the new year and get help, quickly. If you are at home and use your computer for games and wordprocessing, you may have some software that does not run anymore. (like WordPerfect 6.1) Hopefully, your life will go on, you will buy upgrades and keep on trucking. Either way, home or business, it is in your interest to make sure the problem is taken care of before the date arrives, so that an inconvenience does not become a disaster. October 7th, 1998

Space, The Final Frontier! Why is it that most people want to skimp on hard drive space? I recently quoted a customer a 6.4 GB hard drive and a 2.1 GB hard drive. The 6.48 GB drive was $319.95 and the 2.1 GB unit was $190.00.. The difference is about $ 129.00. They didn't think they would ever need 6.48 GB so they wanted to add the 2.1 GB drive to their existing 1 GB drive. What I have seen over the last 7 years is that there is no such thing as too much space. And if your 1 GB drive is full, don't just add a 2.1 GB drive, add a lot more. Do as much as your budget will allow. Because you will only have to upgrade sooner if you don't. The newer software is taking up horrendous amounts of space, and with the internet being what it is, people are downloading things at a breathtaking pace. I remember selling 30 MB drives on 286 computers and the customer was thrilled at the amount of space they had. Well, the rest is history. This industry is not going to slow down in the foreseeable future, so when you have to make a move, make it worthwhile. September 28th, 1998

Windows 98 There has not been a lot of hype about Windows 98 from Microsoft. But there have been a lot of questions about why so many people are have trouble with it when doing an upgrade. My best advice would be to check the hardware. Windows 98, like the last versions of Windows 95, is quite advanced in the hardware department. Sometimes, when a person is upgrading an older machine that has windows 95, Windows 98 may have some problems looking at the older hardware and trying to set itself up to run. It definitely would prefer to see newer hardware which it can detect better. I have Windows 95 (2 different versions) and Windows 98 running on the same network in our office. They work wonderfully together, as one would expect. So if your hardware if quite new (using a TX chipset or Pentium II) then the upgrade to Windows 98 will probably be smooth, if your hardware/software combination is stable (Remember, there is nothing in this industry that is certain, except for uncertainty itself). Is it worth it? If you are running the first versions of Windows 95 with a 16 bit FAT and your drive is larger than 500 MB, yes, Windows 98 is worth it, because of it's conversion utility to the new 32 bit FAT, which is more efficient. Depending on the size of your drive, the number of files and how full it is, you many actually gain space after the upgrade.

Buying a computer A local TV station did a special on buying a computer last week. It was an OK special, except they left out some important details. They made the statement that a person should not buy more than they need. That is some statement in an industry that obsoletes its hardware and software at the rate it does! I know what they are trying to say, but they needed to warn people about the disappointment that will happen when they try to buy a new game or application and it will not run on their hardware. I get many calls from people who now need to upgrade a system that they bought from someone 6 months ago. In fact, I have seen some families near tears because they did not realize the financial strain a computer can put on a tight family budget. I don't like to see money wasted. I was brought up better than that, with special thanks to my Mom and Dad. Which is the worst waste of money, buying a used or end of line system for $1000 or less and then is 6 months your need to upgrade to run Office 97, or spending $1500 to $2000 and getting 2 to 3 years before an upgrade is necessary? The answer to that question is not really obvious nor simple. It does depend on your usage and what you foresee yourself doing with your system. I just want you to be careful! Money comes hard in todays economy, don't spend it foolishly.