Agora, vou formatar o computador.

http://www.entertainment.mastiminds.com/Main/Technologies/Softwares.html

One of the things that can stress me (and many others like me) out these days is a slow computer, which is exactly why I decided it was time to get a new one. Spending most of my day writing in front of a computer and searching the Web, I knew I needed a tool to help me become more successful. This is a post about my computer-buying experience, and why every shopper should get a Mac.

If you are in the market for a new laptop or computer, by all means... choose a Mac. Not only do you get great incentives like rebates and freebies, but the purchasing procedure couldn't be any easier. 

About a month ago, I decided I needed a new computer. I rushed my decision. I drove to the Rockville, MD Circuit City where I purhased an HP laptop that happened to be on sale at the time. First, the salesman told me the wrong financing information, so I left. I came back the next day and decided I could afford to purchase it outright.  I bought it, took it home, and began to unpack the box and run installation. 

As soon as I unpacked the box, about a dozen pamphlets and promotional materials spill out everywhere. From everything such as Microsoft Office to Norton AntiVirus and other media programs, it was like sales pitches were being shoved in my face. 

Then on to installation. The rumors about Windows Vista were right. It's glitchy. It runs extremely slow. It comes pre-installed with a TON of programs which need to be removed (and that takes knowledge and time).  The third-party relationships that Windows Vista decided to package itself with has turned the PC's into complete mess.  Anyway, I could not get an internet connection and my programs were having a very difficult time opening. 

So I took it back to Circuit City, where a technician proceeded to mouth off to me. He told me there was nothing wrong with the computer. I told him he was wrong, because it does not work. He then explained to me that Vista comes pre-installed with programs, and that Circuit City could "optimize" the computer for me for an extra 50 bucks.

In so many words, I told him that I would not pay the 50 bucks and that someone either needed to make this PC work or let me return it with no fee. With arguing back and forth, the tech made the mistake of saying, "It's not our fault you didn't know what you were buying". 

I was extremely livid and the situation AND the way it was being handled. So I had to argue my way up to the manager. Then, I threatened to write to Circuit City corporate headquarters about the horrible experience. All of a sudden, I was able to return the PC with no fee. And THANK GOD I was able to do this. 

I took some extra time in deciding my other option - which was to buy a Mac. At first, I was hesitant about configuration issues I might have. But I went with some friends' recommendations and purchased a MacBook.

It was extremely easy. I just went on to their site, figured out what specifications I wanted in terms of memory and speed, added some software and voila. It's done. The computer was shipped to me three days later. 

Today, I opened up the box which contained about 4 different items. The MacBook, a power cord, a booklet that reads "everything mac," and another booklet which reads "everything else," including two Mac operating system cd's (which I didn't even need). 

The configuration was easy as pie. Within about 5-6 short steps, I was logged on to my wireless network at home and playing with cool programs such as iPhoto and iMovie. (I've been harassing my parents with videos and funny effects pictures that I've taken of myself. )

On top of all of this, I found out today that my purchase qualifies for a free ipod (with rebate). As you can imagine, this pretty much made my day. I'm excited to keep learning about how to use the Mac, and I strongly recommend it be chosen over a PC. They're much more user-friendly, easy to set up, and contain great programs for practical use. 

Today I was at a client site installing Avast 4.x and before I ever do an install of antivirus software I make sure it the computer has no existing antivirus software. I checked the programs and no NAV. I checked the Add and Remove Programs section of the Control Panel and no NAV. So good...or so I thought.

I install Avast on a computer with Vista running. Now before this I had just configured a secure wireless connection and verified its operation. So everything should work but upon installation and reboot Avast would not update. I right-click and force an update and in the applet box it indicates that NAV is still installed and is not currently updated. In addition, the wireless connection will not work. I recheck for the existence of NAV and no, it is not installed but it really must be because Vista Security Centre says it needs an update. I run the applet Symantec provided to remove it and then reboot and then I have to reconfigure the wireless connection from scratch.

The computer is now running fine but how is a normal client to know if NAV is completely removed if they check the standard places one uses to verify if a program is installed or not?

I am not alone is this opinion...

Norton Antivirus
It's a little unfair to pick on Norton Antivirus and make it carry the sins of half the desktop malware industry — but only a little unfair. If ever a class of software deserved to be cast into the lower reaches of Hell and run on Satan's own desktop, it is this. Performance- sapping, space-hogging, noisy, irritating and prone to inducing just as many problems as they purport to solve, these horrible, ineffective, expensive lumps of digital thuggery keep entire platoons of support engineers in business and home users in tears. We know. We get the phone calls.

Could not say it better myself. You will notice that the poster considers NAV malware. I consider it malware of the worst sort. The type perpetrated by a legitimate company that uses it presence in the industry to make it almost a defacto "standard" installed or used by major computer vendors and ISPs. Boo on Rogers, Bell, and others for making my client's computer experiences less than stellar.

Click on the image above to view the full flash sequence. Cool stuff. If you do not have Flash installed, you can view the animation sequence via youtube:

Technorati Tags: icon war, msn icon, norton anti-virus, icq, windows desktop, animation, icon animation, microsoft icon

]]> http://cybergurus.wordpress.com/2007/10/02/internet-security-virus-checkers-and-firewall-software-protection-tips/ Tue, 02 Oct 2007 10:31:20 +0000 Sunil Saripalli http://cybergurus.pt-br.wordpress.com/2007/10/02/internet-security-virus-checkers-and-firewall-software-protection-tips/ I been using the Internet for a long time now, so long I don’t even remember when the first I ever used it. But back then there was a lot less hassle of having protection on our PCs and not only that! You also didn’t have to worry about having your very own identity stolen!

Today’s world is totally different, there are hundreds of thousands of people on the Internet that would love to steal your credit card, bank details, paypal account you name it they want it!

But it’s not just that they also want to take your identity to ruin your credit by taking out massive loans in your name and having it paid in to your account for them to just withdraw it from there PC…

It does not stop there either, not only are we scared to wits of losing our cash but we also have people wanting to destroy our data on our computers out of pure fun and joy… It’s a sad world we live in.

Now I’m not here to scare you, don’t close that Internet connection just yet as I do also have some great tips and ideas on how to keep your self protected from such worries.

Firstly, every computer must own a Firewall, but I can hear the slow ticking in your head already banging away and asking… What’s a Firewall?

Firewalls are designed to prevent other computers accessing your computer without your permission, to keep this very basic, a firewall is basically wall between you and the Internet. For others to get pass this wall they have to be given permission from the users on the other side.

Firewalls are great protection; I have used many, ZoneAlarm, Norton and also McAffee. But the best I have seen so far would have to be from Panda Software. They have a two in one package having Antivirus and Firewall all in one box. Though this may stop people from trying to attack your PC using software etc there are still many other routes that you can get attacked.

Viruses, Spyware, Trojans are just a few names that are currently taking advantage of thousands of PCs around the world; a firewall will not protect you from all of these!

Instead, you are going to need an Antivirus product which will take care of most of these threats.

Most Antivirus software will protect you from almost all threats on the Internet, you don’t need Spyware protection for Spyware, Trojan protection for Trojans… You get the picture?

One single Antivirus application will do all the work for you, don’t sit there searching endless searches for different products to help you out… Why?

In the end you will have loads of junk software on your PC all taking up system resources and wasting your computers CPU power. You will start to see your PC running slower and in the end you will just have to do a recovery of the entire system because it will be too naked to even start up… Phew!

But you get the picture now; a single application is all you need, the big brand names do all this for you at the moment, it runs in your task bar and does almost everything except make you a nice cold tea! Just make sure you install the latest Antivirus software soon as your Operating System is installed… We don’t want anything bad slipping through do we!

To keep your self safe from all the nasty stuff on the Internet then the only best advice I can give you is to stay away from them bad nasty adult sites and also stay away from FREE software sites… These type of sites are hard to pick from, some are bad… Some are good.

Keep your software up to date and watch where you go and you should have no problems at all.

The most useful is Norton Anti virus. You can get it free from this website. Click here.

Another one is AVG Antivirus Free Edition. Get it free by clicking here.