Under: The Influence

It didn’t take very long for the first computer virus to appear, but in the early days at least the bad stuff didn’t have an easy way to spread. Boy, how things have changed! Malware creators have figured out how to infect your computer with no action on your part except simply visiting the wrong website. And unfortunately, they’ve also figured out how to spread their junk to even some of the best sites out there.

I’ve heard too many otherwise knowledgeable people tell me they use an alternative browser like Firefox or Chrome “because it’s safer.” And these same people often neglect to update their anti-virus subscription.

Well, a recent independent study found something awfully interesting: Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 Web browser is the most secure and safe browser you can use. Simply put, if you aren’t using IE 9, you’re not as safe as you should be.

But even if you are using IE 9, it is vital that you also have effective, real-time anti-virus and anti-spyware software that is up-to-date. Sure, this seems like a no-brainer, but too many people feel they’ll never get caught. They are, to put it bluntly, wrong!

By the way, I’ve relied upon Zonealarm Internet Security Suite to protect our systems for many years. They’re not the only option, of course, but they’re very good, have made continual improvements, and I trust them. What more is there to say?

by Brian Underdahl

We’ve all seen bubbles. Certainly a lot of people have been affected by what many called the “housing bubble.” Bubbles happen when people become irrational about something and can’t see that things have gotten unreasonable. And that’s why the iBubble is getting ready to pop.

What’s the iBubble, you ask? Well, just look around on the Web. You see people doing irrational things like standing in line for the iPad–a device that’s too large to fit in a pocket, too small to be a notebook replacement, can’t make phone calls, can’t use Flash content, and is far more expensive than it’s worth. But those were the same people who stood in line to be the first to get the latest version of the iPhone, weren’t they?

Let’s see, the iPhone is tied to the carrier that most people hate, it does far less than the competition, it has a flawed antenna design, and it’s far more expensive than it’s worth. (See a pattern here yet?)

This also reminds me about the current price of Apple stock. Here you have a company run by an egomaniac, it has only a very minor share of the personal computer market, sells only proprietary over-priced products, and its shares are far more expensive than they’re worth.

A lot of companies are gunning for a big share of the tablet and mobile phone markets. While some of them don’t have much of a chance, a number of them are big, successful companies with deep pockets and a determination to come out on top. You can bet they’re planning for the day when the iBubble pops!

Recently we’ve heard that the Android phones are far outselling the iPhone. Of course you’d never hear the “istuff” fanboys mention that–they’re too wrapped up in their iBubble. But that news can’t be good for Apple because it does foreshadow the bursting of the iBubble. When the pop comes, don’t say it was a surprise! I told you it was coming.

Well, I guess it’s official. Several years of tech reviews and posts are gone. Oh, they’re out there somewhere, I guess, but thanks to GoDaddy you can’t see them. For all intents and purposes, everything we’ve done here in the past might as well never have existed.

It’s not that we didn’t try to get them back. For the past few months I’ve been trying to backup, upgrade, and restore our online work. On the other side were the brilliant people at GoDaddy who decided that they were going to change the password rules in mid-stream, making it impossible to actually succeed with restoring our files. And, because they gave no warning about this change, it was also impossible to change the existing passwords so that they’d comply with the new rules.

This is a classic case of “we know best and the customers be damned.” Wouldn’t it have been better to send out an e-mail saying something like “we’re changing the rules and unless you change your passwords within the next 30 days you’re screwed?”

By the way, GoDaddy’s response was that even though they provide the WordPress application, they don’t support it. Sure, they provide a tool so you can backup your files, but that tool lacks one pretty simple feature-it can’t do a restore from that backup.

Darlene sometimes says “if you’re having problems, imagine how ordinary computer users must feel.” She’s right, you know, but you don’t really want to know how I feel about losing all that work over such a stupid move on GoDaddy’s part!

Brian