Internet Security Tips for Seniors

According to the U.S. Census Bureau 40% of of people 65 and older have a computer at home. Of this total, approximately  25% of these individuals are connected to the Internet.

If anything, I’m sure these numbers are now even higher, since these numbers were taken from the census of 2005. In Canada, where I live, recent statistics indicate older adults are the fastest growing group of computer buyers and internet users.

Many of the older people that I have met feel, to some extent, that they have been left behind by technology and the computer age, or as I like to term it “the age of the interconnectedness of all things electronic”.

Part of this disconnection, in my view, is caused by the mistaken notion that the “younger” generation is tech savvy in the extreme. While it may be true, that in developed countries, those in their teens to 40’s are comfortable texting via cell phones, using social apps like FaceBook, Twitter and so on, its sheer media generated hype to extrapolate this level of skill into “a tech savvy” generation.

My personal experience with older adults has shown me that the perception, sometimes held by older adults themselves,  that the older generation has a  limited interest ,or limited skills in using computers, does a disservice to this varied group.

Many older adults are now realizing they don’t have to understand computer technology to send e-mail to friends and family, shop online, play games, make greeting cards, read book and film reviews, look into family genealogy or find valuable health information on the Internet.

So, if you fall into this newly liberated group and have recently acquired a computer, or you just need a refresher course on the fundamental precautions you need to take to secure your computer against the ever increasing exposure we all face to Trojans, Spyware, Viruses, Phishing Scams, and Identity Theft, while connected to the Internet, this article is for you.

Fundamental security precautions:

Patch your operating system. Download and install all available patches and service packs by connecting to Windows Update. It is now beyond dispute that 50% of unpatched and unprotected systems will be infected with malicious code within 12 minutes of being connected to the Internet.

Install a firewall. Windows XP comes with a basic firewall, and if you are running Windows Vista, it comes with a more robust firewall (Windows Firewall) than XP, as well as anti-spyware utilities (Windows Defender). However, the consensus is; third party applications are usually more effective. Keep in mind that the XP firewall offers only minimal protection.

Choosing a firewall. There are a number of free firewalls that are worth considering. The following are two that do the job particularly well.

Comodo Firewall Pro:

The definitive free firewall, Comodo Firewall protects your system by defeating hackers and restricting unauthorized programs from accessing the Internet. I have been using this application for 14 months and I continue to feel very secure. It resists being forcibly terminated and it works as well, or better, than any firewall I’ve paid for. This is one I highly recommend. Amazing that it’s free!

PC Tools Firewall:

I’ve been running with PC Tools Firewall for a few months, first on Win 7 Beta, and now on Windows 7 RC, and in this short time period I have been impressed with its performance. It installed easily, set up quickly, and has not caused any conflicts with my machine despite my sometimes esoteric running requirements.

The default settings are well thought out, and provide excellent protection for less experience users – and despite the hype put out by the IT industry, most computer user can be classified as having limited system experience.

Install anti-virus software: There is no doubt that an unprotected computer will become infected by viruses and malware within minutes of first being connected to the Internet. There are many free versions of anti-virus software available and the programs that have a well justified reputation are listed below.

Avira AntiVir Personal:

This anti-virus program offers comprehensive protection with an easy to use interface. In the time that I have been testing Avira I have been impressed with its performance, and I have come to rely on it as my primary anti-virus program on an XP Pro system. I highly recommend this one.

PC Tools Free Antivirus:

Having tested virtually all of the major antivirus applications, and updates, over the last several years, I’m comfortable recommending the free version of this application as a front line antivirus defender. In the time I have been testing PC Tools Free AntiVirus on my Windows 7 systems, I have been more than satisfied with its performance.

This free antivirus program offers it’s comprehensive protection within an easy to use interface, and it should meet all of your requirements.

Install Anti-spyware and Adware Software: It’s not only a virus that can put your computer down for the count, but a multitude of nasties freely floating on the Internet. Listed below are a number of free programs that offer very good protection against malware.

Spyware Terminator:

Having tested virtually all of the major anti-spyware applications over the past year or more, I’ve settled, for now, on Spyware Terminator primarily due to its strong real-time protection against spyware, adware, Trojans, key-loggers, home page hijackers and other malware threats.

Spyware Terminator excels in strong active protection against know and unknown threats. If anything, I find it perhaps a little overly aggressive. On the other hand, better this than the alternative.

Microsoft Security Essentials:

I’ve been running Security Essentials as a tester for months on my Win 7 machine, backed up by my usual, on demand, security applications and I’ll state, without any hesitation, I’m impressed. I highly recommend this free application.

Ad-Aware:

Many software reviewers consider Ad-Aware Free as the best free adware remover available. It does a relatively good job of protecting against known data-mining, Trojans, dialers, malware, browser hijackers and tracking components.

The only downside with the free version is real-time protection is not included.

ThreatFire:

ThreatFire blocks mal-ware, including zero-day threats, by analyzing program behavior and it does a stellar job. Again, this is one of the security applications that forms part of my front line defenses. I have found it to have high success rate at blocking mal-ware based on analysis of behavior. I highly recommend this one!

Internet Browser Protection:

Web of Trust (WOT):

WOT is a free Internet Browser add-on (my personal favorite), that has established an impressive 4.5/5.0 star user rating on CNET. WOT tests web sites you are visiting for spyware, spam, viruses, browser exploits, unreliable online shops, phishing, and online scams, helping you avoid unsafe web sites.

SpywareBlaster:

SpywareBlaster prevents ActiveX-based spyware, adware, dialers, and browser hijackers from installing on your system by disabling the CLSIDs (a system used by software applications to identify a file or other item), of spyware ActiveX controls.

A secondary but equally important function offered by SpywareBlaster, is its ability to block spyware/tracking cookies and restrict the actions of spyware/adware/tracking sites in Internet Explorer, Mozilla FireFox, Netscape, Seamonkey, Flock and other browsers.

If you have not yet taking the precautions as outlined above, you are extremely vulnerable and it is critical that you take the following precautions:

Stop surfing the Web and patch your operating system. Only then download your choice of the protective software as noted above, or software that you are familiar with that will do an appropriate job of protecting your computer.

Do not visit any other websites until you have done this!

Additional security precautions:

Establish a password for the administrator account. Only you should have access to the administrator settings on your PC. Unfortunately, XP installs with open access to the administrator’s account. Be sure to change this.

Create a new password protected user account. Using this account for your general day-to-day activities adds another layer of protection to your computer. A user account does not have the same all-access permissions as your administrator account, and in many cases this extra layer of protection will restrict malware from gaining a foothold on your PC.

My apologies for using the word”Senior” in the title of this article – it is not a word I’m personally comfortable with.

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Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – November 15, 2009

How to set up an iPod Shuffle – In spite of its unassuming size, the Apple iPod Shuffle is a surprisingly sophisticated MP3 player. With voice feedback, headphone control, playlist management, and podcast support, the iPod Shuffle is in many ways more advanced than the original brick-size iPod.

Tips – Troubleshooting your Wi-Fi

Verizon sends more antipiracy notices – Verizon Communications has agreed to forward copyright violation notices on behalf of Hollywood studios, including NBC Universal. The news comes after Verizon began issuing the same type of copyright letters on Thursday–as part of a test–on behalf of the music industry.

Ex-Employees Pose Growing Security Threat – Reprisals from recently departed employees and a lack of adequate security budgets and resources are becoming major concerns for senior IT professionals, according to the 12th annual Ernst Young Global Information Security Survey. Channel Insider takes a deeper look into this growing problem.

Yahoo Messenger 10 waves bye to ‘beta’ – Yahoo Messenger 10 beta is no more. At least not the “beta” part. This week, Yahoo gave the version 10 beta its stamp of approval, pulling away the “beta” marker and replacing Yahoo Messenger 9 with Yahoo Messenger 10 on Yahoo’s download page.

Experts Only: Time to Ditch the Antivirus? – It’s definitely not the right move for the average computer user, but some security experts claim they have found better security by disabling the AV and relying on other controls and behaviors.

The future of antivirus: Is there a way out of the arms race? – Antivirus software makes Greg Shipley so mad he has to laugh. “The relationship between signature-based antivirus companies and the virus writers is almost comical. One releases something and then the other reacts, and they go back and forth. It’s a silly little arms race that has no end.”

Off Topic:

Top 10 Homemade Remedies for What Ails You – Feeling under the weather? Thinking—as you look around your office—that you might be soon? Hone your home remedy skill set with a look at 10 of our favorite DIY cures for illnesses and your body’s annoyances.

Increase the Quality of Cheap Vodka with a Water Filter – Save yourself some money and improve the quality of a bottle of cheap vodka with a little at-home filtration. Vodka is not a complicated alcohol, and government standards on what constitutes vodka ensures that from the absolute bottom-shelf swill to the top-shelf ultra-premium bottles, what you end up with is, well, vodka. Marketing tactics and slick advertising aside, the real difference between the bottom and top shelf is the amount of filtration and refinement the vodka undergoes.

Man allegedly steals bus, posts YouTube video – A tour bus is stolen in Vermont. A former employee is apprehended for allegedly taking it on a joyride. Now it appears that he made a video of the alleged theft and posted it to YouTube.

Today’s Quote:

“Speech is conveniently located midway between thought and action, where it often substitutes for both”.

- John Andrew Holmes

Today’s Free Downloads:

Vuze 4.3 – Formerly the feature-rich Azureus, Vuze takes Azureus’ BitTorrent foundation and builds on top of it a network for video discovery and user-created video publishing tied together by social networking.

Foxit Reader – To put it gently, Adobe Reader is a real pain in the hindquarters. It’s monstrously large, slow to load, and includes many features most users will hardly ever need. Foxit PDF Reader 3.0 kills the bloat and throws in some useful features, such as multimedia support and content-sharing options, while still allowing you to quickly access your PDFs.

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Scareware? Maybe (Destroyware? Definitely)

So, you picked up a “scareware” infection. Should you, as the name implies, be “scared”? In my experience, scared doesn’t really cut it, nor does shocked, or alarmed. No, horrified is perhaps the best way to describe that sinking feeing that occurs following a scareware infection. You’ll see why.

While it may be true that this type of malware, otherwise known as “rogue security software”, is scary, it is so much more than that. A more accurate name for this parasitic infectious software is “destroyware”, since the effect it has on a victim’s system is just that.

Rogue security software can write itself into multiple parts of the operating system, and in many cases it can hide its files, registry entries, running process and services, making the infection virtually impossible to find and remove without causing operating system damage.

Once infected by this type of malware, the chances of a safe system recovery are essentially non-existent. The installation of such malware invariable leads to a critically disabled PC. A reformat and a system re-install, are more than likely in the cards. (A good reason to have multiple partitions on your Hard Drive).

Yes, I know, there are literally hundreds of sites that will walk you through the process of attempting to eliminate this type of scourge, but simply put – if your computer becomes infected with the current scareware circulating on the Internet, you are, in most cases, wasting your time attempting to save your system.

If you doubt this, take a look at “My scareware night and how McAfee lost a customer”, in which the author (Larry Dignan of ZDNet), describes a system recovery attempt which was ultimately successful, but…..

The best advice? Have your PC worked on by a certified computer technician, who will have the tools, and the competency, to determine if the infection can be removed without causing system damage.

If you have become infected by scareware (rogue software), and you want to try your hand at removal, then by all means do so.

The following free resources can provide tools and advice you will need to attempt removal.

Malwarebytes, a very reliable anti-malware company, offers a free version of Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware, a highly rated anti-malware application which is capable of removing many newer rogue applications.

411 Spyware – a site that specializes in malware removal. I highly recommend this site.

Bleeping Computer – a web site where help is available for many computer related problems, including the removal of rogue software. This is another site I highly recommend.

SmitFraudFix – available for download at Geekstogo is a free tool that is continuously updated to assist victims of rogue security applications.

What you can do to reduce the chances of infecting your system with rogue software.

Be careful in downloading freeware or shareware programs. Spyware is occasionally concealed in these programs. Download this type of program only through reputable web sites such as Download.com, or sites that you know to be safe.

Consider carefully the inherent risks attached to peer-to-peer (P2P), or file sharing applications.

Install an Internet Browser add-on that provides protection against questionable or unsafe websites. My personal favorite is Web of Trust, an Internet Explorer/FireFox add-on, that offers substantial protection against questionable or unsafe websites.

Do not click on unsolicited invitations to download software of any kind.

Additional precautions you can take to protect your computer system:

When surfing the web: Stop. Think. Click

Don’t open unknown email attachments

Don’t run programs of unknown origin

Disable hidden filename extensions

Keep all applications (including your operating system) patched

Turn off your computer or disconnect from the network when not in use

Disable Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX if possible

Disable scripting features in email programs

Make regular backups of critical data

Make a boot disk in case your computer is damaged or compromised

Turn off file and printer sharing on the computer.

Install a personal firewall on the computer.

Install anti-virus/anti-spyware software and ensure it is configured to automatically update when you are connected to the Internet

Ensure the anti-virus software scans all email attachments

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Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – November 14, 2009

Configuration Mania Tweaks Popular about:config Options in Plain English – If you love tweaking every aspect of Firefox with the browser’s very useful about:config feature, but you get frustrated trying to decipher cryptic configuration strings (what’s a 0 or 2 mean for layout.spellcheckDefault?), Firefox extension Configuration Mania is for you.

YouTube to Support High-Res 1080p Videos – Bigger, clearer videos coming to YouTube as Google continues to tinker with monetization strategies.

Google: Firms can get rid of Office in a year – Dave Girouard, president of Google’s enterprise division, says Google Docs will reach a “point of capability” next year that will serve the “vast majority’s needs.”

New MS Tool ‘Ripley’ Clones Browser, Runs Remotely – Scientists at Microsoft Research have unveiled a new way to secure complex Web applications by effectively cloning the user’s browser and running it remotely. Many of the latest Web applications split their executable code between the server and the client. The problem is detecting whether the code running on the user’s home PC has been compromised in some way.

How to Share Your Wi-Fi Connection – Plus, we discuss traffic monitoring and the difference between WRT and DD-WRT.

New Flash Attack Has No Real ‘Fix’ – Researchers show how Adobe Flash can be exploited in browsers when victim visits sites that accept user-generated content.

Five rules for protecting Windows with antivirus software – The best rules of thumb for virus protection on Microsoft Windows are the same as they have been for years. Chad Perrin lists the five rules of thumb for protecting a Windows computer with antivirus software.

OpenSUSE 11.2 Integrates a Slick KDE Desktop – OpenSUSE 11.2, the latest Linux offering from the Novell-backed project, updates the core components of its GNOME desktop and apps. What’s really intriguing, though, is the integration of KDE 4.3, which looks snazzy and, seemingly, works better than previous versions.

Windows Security Bug Revealed After Microsoft Patch Tuesday – Less than 24 hours after Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday, a security researcher revealed a zero-day bug affecting Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 Release 2.

Off Topic:

10 things you should know about bloggers and blogging – Blogging has become a hugely popular trend, thanks to its relevance to readers and its independence. But there are some inner workings of being a blogger that not everyone realizes. Here are some things I’ve learned during my tenure as a professional blogger.

How to end your sugar addiction now (or maybe after one more cookie) – To most people, sugar is an addictive substance. Virtually all creatures, from humans to birds, love sugar, and when it’s readily available, we are compelled by our biochemistry to consume it in large amounts. One of the risks of living in a culturally advanced society is that there’s a lot of food out there, and a lot of people discover the joy of carbohydrates.

‘2012′ Sucks Worse Than the Mayans Could Have Predicted – 2012 is like watching a Special Olympics weightlifting event. The young man grunting and flexing under the lights is showing off. His feats of strength are impressive. There is awe in the eyes of those who witness his skills, his talents. But in the end, regardless of how cut he is, how much he can bench and how awesome it is to see him do it, you’re just watching a powerfully strong person with below average intelligence pick up heavy things and drop them. And that’s all you’re doing.

6 Things Your Body Does Every Day That Science Can’t Explain – The human race has scaled the tallest mountains, charted the deepest oceans and played a quick front nine on the freaking moon, but there’s one frontier that still largely mystifies us: our own bodies. There are everyday phenomenons you’d think must have been explained ages ago, but in reality asking these simple questions of a scientist will net you at best a shrug, and at worst some bullshit he just made up off the top of his head.

Today’s Quote:

“An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field”.

- Niels Bohr

Today’s Free Downloads:

Print2PDF – Adobe PDF converter (DOC to PDF), creator, writer for Windows Vista/2000/XP/2003/2008. Print2PDF uses print output for conversion into an Adobe Acrobat compatible PDF file.

Flexible Album Studio – Flexible Album Studio is a brain-dead simple, absolutely free and Formula-1 fast creator of professional-looking web galleries for digital photographers. No HTML coding or image processing experience necessary whatsoever.

Express Burn – With Express Burn you create and record MP3/WAV formats to CD in Windows for free. With Express Burn you can record a CD quickly and easily by dragging the files you want onto the Express Burn icon and clicking ‘Burn’. The software then does the rest, including converting the files to .cda

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The Mega-D Botnet Bites the Dust – Sort Of!

BOTNET. The name sounds as if it belongs in a Sci Fi flick, in which it’s used to describe a robotic zombie army up to no good; bent on committing general mayhem.

Take the Sci Fi movie out of the equation and you’ve got the right idea. A botnet is a zombie army; but an army of individually owned, Internet connected computers, surreptitiously controlled by a so called “command and control center” – read, the “Bad Guys”.

Unknown to the owner of these individual computers, his or her machine is acting as a source of transmission, a relay point if you like, spreading spam, and in some cases infectious malware, including ads pushers, rogue AV installers, data stealers, and web search hijackers, to other Internet users’. Most of the spam you receive on a daily basis, for example, is a product of these zombies; both large (in some cases very large), and small.

It’s not surprising then, that various groups, or individual companies, within the Internet security community, monitor the formation and demise of botnets and wherever possible, attempt to take them down.

The following email I received from Symantec’s MessageLabs Intelligence, which I’d like to share with you, indicates the great efforts Internet security organizations make, in attempting to keep the Internet safe for all users.

Email from MessageLabs Intelligence:

Researchers at the Fireeye intelligence lab recently decided to attempt to take down the Mega-D botnet after doing detailed analysis of its inner workings. It seems their actions have been very successful indeed, as our monitoring shows a huge decline in this previously prolific botnet’s activity.

Mega-D was the botnet that took the biggest advantage of the takedown of the McColo ISP in November 2008, becoming the biggest of all the spam botnets. Since then, others (such as Rustock, Bagle, Grum, and Cutwail) have gained strength, but Mega-D has consistently been in the top 10 spam bots. Or at least it was, until the 4th of November, when it was hit, and hit hard.

This shows the number of unique IP’s seen on our systems on a daily basis for the Mega-D botnet. Normally between 600 and 1600 IP’s are seen each day, but you can see quite clearly that after the 4th that it plummeted down to less than 50.

 

 

It is unlikely that the botnet will ever be completely wiped out, but the efforts of the Fireeye team have crippled Mega-D to the point where it will be a long time (if indeed, ever) before it is able to regain its former standing.

To see the original news posting on MessageLabs Intelligence Blog, please follow this link.

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Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – November 13, 2009

Best Buy to Launch $249 Acer Notebook – Best Buy is gearing up to sell its lowest-advertised-priced laptop ever. The exact model will be revealed tomorrow, but we do know that it will be a $249.99 Acer laptop, and that it will have an Intel Celeron 900 CPU, 2GB of memory, and a 160GB hard drive.

My scareware night and how McAfee lost a customer – I had an ugly run-in with scareware last night, but I’m not sure what left me more annoyed: The dreaded Antivirus Pro 2009 scareware or McAfee, my anti-virus software provider.

Dual-Boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu in Perfect Harmony – Windows 7 and Ubuntu, despite their opposing missions, can get along like best pals on a single computer. Here’s how to set up a dual boot system that lets you enjoy the best of both worlds in perfect harmony.

Windows 7 design ‘not based on Mac OS X’ – Microsoft has taken the unusual step of admitting that one of its spokesmen didn’t know what he was talking about. Microsoft has called a statement made by one of its own spokesmen “inaccurate and uninformed”.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Review – It’s set to be one of the biggest selling games of all time. Is it one of the greatest?

Microsoft cuts off gamers without trial – Without warning, thousands of Xbox Live members around the world suddenly found themselves unable to access the service. The reason these gamers have been cut off is for breaking their licence agreement with Microsoft by ‘modding’ the consoles to play pirated or unauthorised games.

Bing joins forces with Wolfram Alpha – Microsoft’s search engine has teamed up with the question and answer-based web tool Wolfram Alpha in a bid to rival search giant Google. Microsoft will use the web tool Wolfram Alpha to help provide results for its search engine Bing.

Google Adds ‘Lock’ Feature to SafeSearch – Google added an additional security layer to its search functionality Wednesday, allowing users to lock-in SafeSearch on their accounts so questionable material will not pop up.

Off Topic:

The 12 psychological stumbling blocks of looking for a job – In career advice, you’ll get tips for writing the best resume, crafting the perfect cover letter, and networking with other professionals. But here is a discussion of the psychological stumbling blocks a job searcher can face and what to do about them.

Top 5 car technologies – This millennium has seen an incredible blossoming of new technologies in automobiles. We’ve seen most of them, and settled on the five we find the most useful.

7 Things “Good Parents” Do (That Screw Kids Up for Life) – It seems like it’s close to impossible to raise a normal child these days, what with the violent video games and the 4chan and the childhood obesity. But if the latest research is to be believed, even the good stuff we thought we were doing for our kids is ruining them.

MPAA shuts down entire town’s muni WiFi over a single DL! – The MPAA has successfully shut down an entire town’s municipal WiFi because a single user was found to be downloading a copyrighted movie.

Today’s Quote:

“A scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it”.

-     Max Planck

Today’s Free Downloads:

XP Tweaks Unlocked – Overview: XP Tweaks Unlocked is an excellent application that any Microsoft Windows user (whether beginner or advanced) will find useful when an improved Microsoft Windows experience is wanted.

BlackBox Password Manager – BlackBox Password Manager is a lightweight and easy-to-use password manager for Windows which will remember all your passwords.

MozillaCacheView – MozillaCacheView is a small utility that reads the cache folder of Firefox/Mozilla/Netscape Web browsers, and displays the list of all files currently stored in the cache. For each cache file, the following information is displayed: URL, content type, file size, last modified time, last fetched time, expiration time, fetch count, and server name.

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Partition Wizard Free Home Edition – New User Friendly

I can still remember the first time I partitioned a live Hard Drive. What I remember most clearly is, how nervous I was. All sorts of “what ifs” were bouncing around my mind.

What if – my primary partition got erased or deleted, and I lost critical data, or my machine failed to re-boot, etc. As it turned out, these were not just ideal fears, because in the early days of computing, I managed to do all this and more.

Interestingly, most users I meet, even today, have some of these same fears. But these type of concerns are less valid than they once were, since we now have access to partitioning tools that are virtually foolproof. Used with reasonable care, today’s tools really do help users avoid the pain and frustration of  accidentally losing data while partitioning.

There are a number of sound reasons to partition today’s large Hard Drives. The best reason I can think of (from a personal perspective), for partitioning is simply this – data organization.

Additional good reasons to partition could include, keeping your valuable data separate from the operating system so that if you are faced with an OS reinstall following an infection, you can do so without losing irreplaceable data. As well, a multiple boot configuration, which allow users to have more than one operating systems on a computer, requires multiple partitions.

While we’re talking about an OS reinstall following a malware infection, let me just remind you that partitioning is NOT a substitute for backing up your important data. Hard Drives can, and do, fail – much more often than most people realize. A good backup strategy is an absolute must.

On my new Windows 7 machine I have only one Hard Drive (although my other machines have multiple internal Hard Drives), so I have partitioned this drive as follows:

• Partition 1 – Operating system and programs
• Partition 2 – Data files
• Partition 3 – Research projects
• Partition 4 – Videos
• Partition 5 – Music
• Partition 6 – Photos

The are a number of free partitioning applications available for download over the Internet, but the one I have found to be the most useful, and easiest to use, particularly for those users who are less technically inclined is, Partition Wizard.

Partition Wizard with its simple user interface allows you to easily create, delete, format, move, and resize partitions. Users of 64 bit systems are in luck -Partition Wizard supports Windows Vista and Windows 7, 64 bit.

The Main interface of Partition Wizard has five parts: Tool Bar, Action panel, Legend bar, Disk map, and Disk / Partition List.

• In the Tool Bar, some of the common functions of managing partitions are listed.
• The Action Panel divides the functions into two sections: Partition Operations and Disk Operations. It also shows the partitioning operation commands not yet carried out by user.
• The Legend bar at the bottom of the screen displays the different kinds of legends with various colors used in Partition Wizard.
• The Disk Map gives an intuitive preview of the partitions, or the free spaces.
• The Disk / Partition List shows all the disks and partitions in the system as well as detailed information about them.

After selecting a partition, you can carry out any of the numerous partitioning functions through the top menu, Tool Bar, Action Panel, or through the left click and right click of the mouse.

Some operations will require the computer to restart. When prompted, Partition Wizard will restart the computer and log in Windows in Native Mode to continue the unfinished operations. After your confirmation of restart, Partition Wizard will carry out this task automatically.

Fast facts:

Resize/ Move partitions

Create partitions

Delete partitions

Change Partition Label

Delete all partitions

Format partitions

Convert file system

Explore Partition

Check Partitions

Recovery Partition

Wipe disk

Wipe partition

Copy partition

Copy disks

Initialize to MBR disk

Initialize to GPT disk

Supported File System: Supports the most commonly used Windows file systems, including FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS.

Supported Hard Disks: Partition Wizard supports all hard disks recognized by Windows such as IDE, SATA, SCSI, USB external disks, Fire wire disks and so on. Partition Wizard also supports RAID devices. All OS-recognized RAID devices can be handled by Partition Wizard. Moreover, Partition Wizard supports disks with capacity up to 2TB. It will support up to 32 disks.

Download at: Download.com

Note: This edition is free for home uses only. However, there is a business edition, also free, which can be downloaded at Download.com.

A little extra something: A Partition Wizard Bootable CD is available, which allows users to boot a computer directly into Partition Wizard to manage partitions. Features include Rebuild MBR, Partition Recovery, Move/Resize Partition, Copy Partition, Create Partition, Delete Partition, Format Partition, Convert File System, Hide/Unhide Partition, Explore Partition and more.

Download Partition Wizard Bootable CD at: Partition Wizard

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Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – November 12, 2009

Windows 7 vs. XP Performance Shoot-Out -  Still a bit apprehensive about upgrading from XP to Windows 7 after the long dark period in Microsoft history that was Vista? Perhaps some good old fashioned performance scores will help change your mind. We took both operating systems for a spin, gauging scores for startup, shutdown, Geekbench, and PCMark 05, among others.

Seven great (and free!) applications for Windows 7 – An OS isn’t much without software to take advantage of it. Here are seven great, free applications for Windows 7.

Google Offers Free Wi-Fi at Airports During the Holidays – Delayed flights and hold-overs won’t tempt you with $10-a-day Wi-Fi this holiday season. That’s because Google has bought out web service at 47 airports through Jan. 15, 2010, and offers it free, assuming you don’t mind a little soft advertising.

Google’s Free Airport Wi-Fi: Five Ways to Protect Yourself – Free Wi-Fi while waiting for your flight sounds like a nice holiday gift, but public hotspots can be insecure. Follow these security tips to keep away hackers and humbugs.

Online Ad Site Hacked, Rigged to Serve Exploits – A high-profile online advertising Web site has been hacked and rigged to serve multiple exploits to Microsoft Windows users surfing the net with unpatched third party desktop software.

Web Security Flaws Up 10% in 2009 – Almost 80% of more than 3,000 software security flaws publicly reported so far this year have been in Web technologies such as Web servers, applications, plugins and Web browsers. That number is about 10% higher than the number of flaws reported in the same period last year — and nine out of 10 of the flaws were found in commercial code.

Hackers Take Over Hundreds of Facebook Groups – A group of hackers have taken control of hundreds of Facebook groups. The hijacked groups all display the same graphic, and the description has been changed to the announcement of what they have done and what their intentions are.

Google’s ‘Caffeine’ Super Search Is Almost Here – Last August, Google announced a new technical underpinning for its search engine results, called Caffeine – a pretty fundamental move for the search giant’s business. Now, it’s ready to go live.

Facebook Users Beware: New Worm on the Loose – A new variation on an old worm is crawling its way into Facebook. Attackers have released an updated, more intelligent version of the notorious Koobface virus, and anyone could become its next victim. Here’s how it works, and how to keep yourself safe.

Product or Malware? Android Spying App Released – A well known commercial provider of spyware applications for numerous mobile platforms, has recently ported its Mobile Spy app to the Android mobile OS. Just like previous releases of the application, the Android version keeps a detailed log of GPS locations, calls, visited URLs, and incoming/outgoing SMS messages, available at the disposal of the attacker who installed it manually by obtaining physical access to the targeted device.

Off Topic:

Programmer 101: Teach Yourself How to Code – You’ve always wanted to learn how to build software yourself—or just whip up an occasional script—but never knew where to start. Luckily, the web is full of free resources that can turn you into a programmer in no time.

Apple iTunes TV Pitch: Another Nail in Cable’s Coffin – Thanks to more affordable options made possible by broadband Internet, the cable TV industry’s practice of offering overpriced, bloated programming packages is on the wane.

Size zero devices: How thin is too thin? – Laptops and phones are getting thinner and thinner. What is the obsession with the size-zero gadget?

When business thinkers go against the grain – Every generation has its share of unconventional, against-the-grain thinkers and leaders who refuse to listen to the naysayers and follow their own instincts. Often, they fail, but some break through, and when they do, it results in smarter solutions for all.

Today’s Quote:

“Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don’t need to be done”.

- Andy Rooney

Today’s Free Downloads:

Riva FLV Encoder – There’s little reason to complain when it comes to Riva FLV Encoder. It works quite well within its purview, and it is free. For standard l aspect ratio video, the program will load and converts many formats just fine.

Free YouTube to MP3 Converter – The minor quibbles we have with Free YouTube to MP3 Converter have nothing to do with its functionality. This effective freeware is ready to go right out of the box, but can be easily customized by the user.

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Free Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.0 – The Ultimate in Protection?

Talk of the “Cloud”, as a startling new concept in computing, is everywhere it seems. I’ve always found this “new concept” idea kind of curious though, when you consider that the Internet, by simply definition, IS the  “Cloud”.

Yes, I am aware that the concept is at least marginally different, inasmuch as delivery of “software as a service”, which allows customers to access applications via the Web, puts a slightly different spin on things.

I must admit though, that I have been a late adapter of the Cloud concept in general, since the state of security on the Internet with its exponentially growing threats has dissuaded me, by and large, from active involvement.

It’s ironic, in a sense,  that Panda Security, a noted security provider, with the final release of their free Panda Cloud Antivirus after six months of Beta testing , have convinced me to overcome my reluctance to jump on board the Cloud express, and participate at least at the system and Internet security level.

I’ve been testing the Beta version of Panda Cloud Antivirus since the end of April 2009, off and on, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised with it’s performance, particularly the light use of system resources. This application is definitely not a resource hog.

A good indication of the reliability of Panda’s Cloud Antivirus as a front line anti-malware application is, the 99.4 percent overall detection rate established in malware detection rate tests performed by AV-Test.org, a highly reputable test organization. This is an outstanding result.

Should you consider installing and running Panda’s Cloud Antivirus? Well, let me offer you this, from previous correspondence with Panda’s CEO Juan Santana “The threat climate demands a new protection model”. Given the unstable state of the Internet, I can certainly second that, and it comes not a moment too soon, in my view.

Quick highlights:

FREE, antivirus thin-client service for consumers which is able to process and block malware more efficiently than locally installed signature-based products.

The immediate benefits to users thanks to Panda’s new protection model are: 100x faster protection against new malware and 50 percent less impact on PC performance, compared to the industry average.

Utilizing its proprietary in-the-cloud scanning technology called Collective Intelligence, to automatically identify and classify new malware strains in near real-time (less than six minutes.

This same process takes up to 48 days with traditional AV products, according to a recent study from the University of Michigan.

The final release includes a number of new features and upgrades including:

New and improved interface makes Cloud Antivirus even easier to use.

Improved performance with cache optimization and memory management lowers CPU utilization and memory consumption.

New website and Collective Intelligence Monitor give users access to a list of malware from the community that is updated in real-time.

Online support forums now available.

System requirements: Windows XP (32 bits), Windows Vista (32bits and 64bits), Windows 7 (32bits and 64bits) – My x64 friends will be happy to see this.

Download at: Cloud Antivirus

Installation instructions (from Panda).

If you have any of the previous versions installed (Beta1, Beta2 or Beta3) do the following:

1- Uninstall your current version.
2- Reboot your computer.
3- Download version 1.0 from http://www.cloudantivirus.com and install.
4- If you already have an account from Beta3, you can use the same one. Otherwise the installer will prompt you to create a Cloud Antivirus account.

Rick Robinette over at What’s On My PC, has also completed a substantial test run on Cloud Antivirus, so be sure to read his report – Panda Cloud Antivirus – Is It Netbook ready?

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Halo 3 ODST – The Halo Saga Continues

Super gamer and guest writer, Dominic Acito, reviews the latest Halo adventure and rates it a winner.

Master Chief wakes up, alone in a hostile New Mombasa. Enemies scour the city streets and lurk around corners hiding in darkness, while your allies are completely missing. In the opening mission of Halo 3 ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers), you are vulnerable and unarmed.

This is something completely new from the Bungie team. These non confrontational and moody scenes take you into the adrenaline charged battles the franchise is well known for, however the feeling of isolation never quite leaves.

ODST is a great entry in the HALO franchise, not just because it stays true to form with past successful games, they also introduce a handful of new concepts that add an interesting spin on the tried and true formula.

The most exciting new feature is Firefight mode, a cooperative battle against a relentless swarm of covenant foot soldiers. This feature is amazing when you love playing gang-up on the aliens.

ODST takes place sometime before Halo 3, in this game you do not get to play as Master Chief. Instead, you assume the role of a drop shock soldier named “The Rookie” – your assignment is to retrieve important data from the bowels of New Mombasa before the covenant can get to it.

In typical Bungie fashion, things do not go as planned. You wake up from a crash landing several hours after your team has hit the ground. As you stumble through this hostile environment, you will come across equipment left behind by your fellow soldiers. If you pick up one of these items, you will be transported into the past to play through the events that took place while you were MIA.

Your time spent as “The Rookie” is very different from previous games in this franchise. You are alone and it’s very quiet, with the exception of the dramatic musical score. There is a lot of darkness and almost an overdependence on night vision goggles, just to see where you are going.

Most of this game plays from the memories of your allies. The campaign can be played with up to three of your friends. The massive weaponry and fantastic vehicles also make their way back into this game, and they are dispersed in just the right amount of increments so that you will always have something new to pick up and rampage with, just before you run out of ammo from the last weapon.

There is a new twist in this game. Your capabilities are greatly reduced, leaving the action closer to Halo: CE. You can’t run as fast or jump quite as high, you cannot dual-wield, and you will die if you fall from up high. The health system has returned from CE. When you are receiving damage, your shield will first fade, when that is completely drained, your health will fade next.

Recharging the shield is as easy as standing out of the line of fire. Health though, must be restored via Medical packs.

The silenced sub machinegun makes its appearance as a new weapon, although being quiet is hardly ever necessary. There is also some interesting joy riding opportunities in the vehicles, leading to some interesting and exciting combat scenarios.

Overall, this was a fun game and I would recommend it to any previous Halo fans.

Platform: Xbox 360

Official site: Bungie

This is a guest post by Dominic Acito, who brings a background as a high level super user and gamer, to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Dominic’s site at Computer Too Slow. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.