Web Stuff and Whatnot

I played golf at Santa Rita Golf Club over the weekend, and I’m happy to say that I hit some of the best drives I’ve ever hit. Until last weekend, I had kept my driver out of the bag for the past several months, but after hitting some great shots with my 3-wood a few weeks ago, I thought it was time to give the driver a shot.

I used two basic swing thoughts during the round, which seemed to make a huge difference for me off the tee. The first was to make a full turn on the backswing. As a right-handed golfer, that meant being sure to turn my left shoulder fully behind the ball. It’s a simple thought, but it definitely gave me the sensation of loading up on the backswing with some power.

The second swing thought was to start the downswing by clearing my lower body. For me, that meant straightening my left leg and beginning to turn around it as I started the club down. When timed properly, I really felt like I was attacking the ball from a strong inside path, and my better swings produced very strong shots.

I hit two drives over 300 yards, and several more in the 270 - 290 range. Needless to say, I’m very excited to work on my drives some more, especially given the fact that this is the first time I’ve hit the driver in months. For disclosure’s sake, I’m using an old, Taylor Made TI Bubble 2 Driver with 10.5 degrees of loft and an R-80 shaft. My drives had a medium-high trajectory, and rolled pretty well. I bet that I would do better with another degree or two of loft though, and a stiffer shaft, but it will have to do for now. We’ll see what happens next week!

For the sake of continuity, this is part six of the computer security series I have been writing.

Phishing is the newest term in the computer security world that I will be discussing in this series. Over the past year or so, phishing has entered the common vernacular, and has also become a common problem.

Phishing threats are typically seen in email. The most common tactic is for the scam artist to send a fraudulent email, usually purported to be from a financial institution or well known website such as Ebay. The email’s subject usually carries something to the effect of, “account will be suspended”, or “immediate action required”.

Probably the easiest way to identify a phishing attack is the request for personal information contained in the email. Remember, your bank or credit card company is never going to ask for your username, password, pin number, or social security number in an email.

Another common thread in phishing attacks is the use of poor spelling and grammar. A reputable business certainly isn’t going to send an email that hasn’t at least seen a spell check first.

Your best line of defense is to simply delete the suspicious email. Even if an email happens to sound fairly legitimate, you still shouldn’t respond to any of the links contained in it. You can always visit the Website yourself, by typing the address into your browser as usual, then log in to manage your account as needed.

The “From” address seen on the email you receive can easily be spoofed, so don’t assume that an email is actually from that person or business.

The links contained in an email can appear to be legitimate, such as “www.paypal.com”, but can easily redirect your browser to a malicious Website. Better not to follow email links at all, and instead navigate to the Website yourself.
Phishing is a problem that isn’t going away any time soon, and will probably get much worse over time. Organized crime has apparently latched onto phishing as a new line of business, so the odds are good that phishing attacks will become more difficult to spot, and more dangerous to computer users. My best advice is to scrutinize every email, and always err on the side of caution- don’t be afraid to delete email that you’re unsure of.

Phishing is a problem that isn’t going away any time soon, and will probably get much worse over time. Organized crime has apparently latched onto phishing as a new line of business, so the odds are good that phishing attacks will become more difficult to spot, and more dangerous to computer users. My best advice is to scrutinize every email, and always err on the side of caution- don’t be afraid to delete email that you’re unsure of.

If you would like to take action against phishing attacks, I would recommend starting at the Anti-Phishing Working Group’s website. You can report phishing attacks, view common phishing attacks, and learn about more ways to protect yourself from phishing.

Part five of the computer security series will cover some excellent anti-virus software packages.

Now that I have described computer viruses in general, I will discuss some software options for removing and preventing viruses. I’ll look at both free and paid software alternatives. This is by no means intended to be a comprehensive list, but I do believe using any of the programs listed here will take you a long way in securing your computer. Here’s a list of the programs I’ll cover:

• Trend Micro’s PC-cillin Security Suite
• McAfee’s Security Suite
• AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

First of all, I’ll say that I currently use all of these products (not on the same system of course) so my opinions will be based directly on experience.

I listed Trend Micro’s PC-cillin first because it’s my favorite. It costs about $50, and I would say that it’s easily worth twice that price. The real-time virus scanning it provides is truly incredible. Just over a month ago I found my web browser under attack (after a mis-click on my part), and PC-cillin quarantined two viruses before they infected my system. Not only did it prevent that risk, but it showed a pop-up window detailing the issue that also gives you the option to instantly halt all Internet traffic on your system. Think of this as “pulling the plug”. This is an incredibly powerful security feature because no matter what kind of attack your system is under, without an active connection to the Internet, you’ll be safe.

I do have to say that the user interface and configuration menu aren’t quite as user friendly as McAfee’s, so you’ll probably have to spend a bit more time configuring your desired settings. The primary features are of course the Anti-Virus program, a Firewall, E-mail filtering, and a feature that you won’t find in the other programs- Wireless Network Intrusion Detection. The Wireless Network feature is quite handy- you’ll get a pop-up window if a new device tries to connect to your network. Overall, I think this Security Suite has it all.

Now for McAfee’s Security Suite. I would say this is an adequate security solution, but not nearly as robust as Trend Micro’s. I was running McAfee on both my laptop and a desktop, but pulled it from the laptop in favor of Trend Micro’s software. McAfee is still running on the desktop without any problems, but I don’t feel quite as secure with it. There’s nothing wrong with McAfee, but a virus did get through while I was running it, and it clearly isn’t as capable at stopping a virus as Trend Micro is.

McAfee also seemed to use up a larger amount of system resources, causing a slightly noticeable delay. The rich, friendly interface probably accounts for the heavier file size, but it is definitely user friendly and a breeze to configure. You can run some very simple wizards to get up and running quickly, or take the time to manually configure everything. Like Trend Micro, McAffee’s Security Suite offers an Anti-Virus program, a Firewall, Spam and Email filters, and McAfee’s Privacy Service. The Privacy Service is intended to make using the Internet more secure, and to prevent certain files on your computer from being accessed without your knowledge. I found Privacy Service to be decent, but definitely noticed some system hang-ups when using it, which eventually lead me to disable it.

Don’t want to spend the money? No problem. If you’re a home user, AVG’s Free Home Edition will be sufficient. I installed this on a client’s computer that had no virus protection, and as soon as I ran the virus scanner it had found multiple viruses and removed them easily. Obviously, you won’t get the power and features offered by the paid products listed above, but if you’re on a budget, you can’t go wrong with this program.

Bottom line- whether you choose one of these Anti-Virus programs, or any other Anti-Virus program you prefer, make sure you’re using an Anti-Virus program. It’s an absolutely critical part of securing your computer.

You may notice a new link on the side of this page. It’s a graphic that links to the FireFox download page. I’ll tell you why I use FireFox, and why you should consider using it too.

In case you don’t know, FireFox is a new, open-source browser that is quickly growing in popularity. I now use it exclusively for Web browsing. Of course, as a Web developer, I still test sites in Internet Explorer (IE) since it dominates the market with a better than 80% share.

So why make the switch? I switched to FireFox for several reasons:

• I do not trust Microsoft
• FireFox has a more elegant interface
• FireFox offers tabbed browsing (think multiple browser windows in one browser window)
• FireFox can be more secure
• The more competition for Microsoft, the better

No I will briefly cover my reasons for switching:

As I mentioned in a previous post, Microsoft seems to assume that everyone using its software has stolen it. The attitude they take is truly unacceptable. I’ve paid far too much money over the years for copies of Microsoft’s software, and I think I at least deserve the benefit of the doubt when I try to update one of their products. They have truly put the burden of proof on the users, and assume we are guilty from the start. Certainly not the way any of us would do business.

FireFox has a much better “feel”. I simply find the interface to be more pleasant to work with.

I love tabbed browsing. When working with IE in the past, I would often find myself with ten or more open browser windows. Needless to say, that wasn’t a very efficient way to work. With FireFox, I can have one window open, and switch quickly between multiple tabs (each nicely labeled of course). Once you try it, I’m sure you’ll like it.

I will admit that the perception of security can be misleading when it comes to the FireFox vs. IE battle. In practice, FireFox will be more secure, but not necessarily because it is built on better code (although that plays a role); the fact that fewer viruses, bugs, and exploits are aimed at FireFox makes it more secure. In time, these threats will catch up with FireFox, but for now, you truly can experience a somewhat more secure browsing experience.

Microsoft needs more competition! I believe that IE was truly better than Netscape Navigator, back in the version 4 and 5 era, but IE’s success lead Microsoft to rest on its laurels, and very little has been improved since that time. As it stands now, FireFox supports the latest standards, and IE does not. Since the FireFox phenomenon has occurred, Microsoft is now rushing to release version 7 of IE, expected some time this summer. So far, the news leaks tend to indicate a lot of FireFox features will be copied, such as tabbed browsing. We will have to wait and see how their new broswer stacks up against the current best browser available.

So what the heck is a Gekkard? Gekkards are small lizard-like creatures drawn by artist, Joey Welsh. My wife and I first discovered the Gekkards at the 4th Avenue Street Fair (here in Tucson, Arizona) last year.

Here is one of the prints we bought last year:

Joey does these drawings with colored pencils, and I have to admit I really love these little guys. I’m writing about the Gekkards now because my wife went to the Street Fair yesterday, and we are now the proud owners of five different Gekkard drawings. I’m sure we’ll be adding more soon. Please visit Joey’s Website if you’d like to learn more about them, or buy some for yourself.