Fix My Broke PC!

Last week I signed up for and started Beta testing Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). I am currently running it on a live machine (I was going to do Virtual but was having an issue with hard drive space) so I haven’t been able to test it with live viruses or malware. I plan to overcome this hard drive space issue so that I can continue testing within a virtual environment.

The test that I did use was the Eicars test virus. It’s a known test virus string that is used to test how the antivirus will react to certain situations. So far I am impressed with the way the it reacts. I copied the text into Memory and before I could paste it into a text file MSE already recognized and cleaned the memory. I downloaded the string within a text file and it allowed the download, but upon opening before it would show the string on the screen MSE had already cleaned the file. The responses cleaned the file and left a message on the bottom right of the screen asking for a response to Clean the computer. Very easy to use and notification was sufficient for my use.

Downsides so far include not having the ability to schedule an update. There is a check box to check for updates before running “A” scan, but you can’t configure updates any other way. Also, it only has the ability schedule one scan, and by default that is a quick scan. I personally prefer having a quick scan done nightly and a full scan done weekly but at this time we are unable to configure both. It’s one or the other!

These downsides have already been submitted as feedback via Microsoft’s beta test site. I eagerly await the full release of MSE and feel that it will have a strong impact on the security of Microsoft’s software.

Today I would like to bring a couple programs to light in reference to free Office Software. The two programs I will be discussing are OpenOffice and most notably, Google Docs.

As the title of this article emplies, I will be spending the majority of my time reviewing Google Docs rather than OpenOffice. Gooogle Docs and OpenOffice are both free alternatives to pricy suites like MS Office. There are two models these days when it comes to developing buisiness software; the two current development models are “Cloud” software and local software. Software that is said to be in the “cloud” simply means it runs completely online. This typ eof software requires no installating and requires no local disc space to save files. This is the development model that Google has taken with the development of Google Docs.

The other model (as mentioned above) is a local model. This type of model mirrors Microsoft Office software as a locally installed client. This software model has its advantages and its disadvantages.

“Cloud” software advantages:

-> No need to worry about files being compatable with different versions of the program on different machines.

-> No need to worry about losing a file.

-> Ground breaking collaborative oppertunities.

-> Change History

-> Complete User Access Control

Local software advantages:

-> Not affected by any server downtimes.

->No internet connection required.

-> Typically more full featured.

Even if your not collaberating on a project, Google Docs is a great FREE suite to use because of its accesability. I, as a college student, use Google Docs whenever possible as it allows me to make last minute changes to an assignment on campus before class and be able to access that file from anywhere with an internet connection. Having all of my work online and available from anywhere is a big deal and it has saved me more than once. One final point that I would like to point out is that with Google Docs, you will always be working with ONE version of a file or project. With MS Office, you could have 6 different copies of a project all saved in different locations (flash drive, hard drive, online storage, cd, etc) and this can cause alot of confusion with make changes and submiting the correct file. For a better idea of this concept, please view this video:

The last point I would like to make is that (although I focused on Google Docs and its platform) OpenOffice is still a great solution to office software. OpenOffice and Google Docs compete on different platforms, which allows both to coexist succesfully. I strongly endorse both pieces of software and hope you enjoy saving all the money on the MS suite!