Take your time and avoid problems

Computers are multitasking devices that can do several things at once. For example, you can download files, play music and edit a document all at the same time. Just imagine how much more awkward it would be if you could only do one task at a time and you had to wait until one had finished before you started another.

Sometimes though, it is actually a good idea to do this and to limit the number of tasks that the computer has to do. Trying to do too much at once can be counter productive. The computer gets bogged down and everything gets slower. It may also cause problems.

Sometimes you don't know that the computer is getting bogged down and all you see is that it is very slow for some reason. You wonder why the computer isn't working very well today and you click something again or try to do some other task, which simply adds to the workload and makes the computer even slower. It doesn't help.

If you have ever tried to write software that can perform two or more tasks at once you will have an idea of how hard it is. Does one task rely on the other? How do you prevent the user from starting the other task before the current one is finished? Do you need to wait for the results of one task before proceeding to the next? And so on. I've done a little programming and I can tell you it's hard. It must be extremely hard with an operating system that performs countless functions and consists of millions of lines of programming.

I wonder whether the programmers always get it right and in some circumstances I sit back, wait and give my computer time to do whatever task it is doing. A good example of this is is with operating system updates.

You download the latest service pack, patch or update to the OS and then restart the system. When you get back to the desktop it is tempting to start clicking on things to quickly get back to work, such as starting a web browser, word processor, email or whatever.

This is not a good idea and the speed at which the desktop appears is misleading. It is displayed early in the boot process to give the impression that the computer starts quickly, but really it is only part of the way through all the tasks it has to perform. After an OS update it often has a lot of tasks to perform after the first boot and it is best to wait until the system has settled down and done all that it needs to do before you start using the computer. It can sometimes take five minutes or more.

How do you know that the computer is busy, apart from it slowing down? On the Apple Mac I use an old program called Menu Meters. It is not the best utility of its type and iStat Menus has more features, but Menu Meters is simpler and uses fewer resources, which is better for my ageing MacBook that's struggling to run the latest software.

Both of these programs add items to the menu bar at the top of the screen on the Mac and they display processor activity, disk activity, upload and download speeds and so on. Take a look at the screen shot as I was shutting down one day. The red and green triangles show that the disk was being read and written to and the CPU bars (two because it's dual-core), are right up near the top.

Clearly OS X was very busy performing some housekeeping task. I could have clicked Shut Down to force the Mac to power off, but I waited until the disk and processor activity stopped before clicking it. Was it necessary to wait? I don't know, but I do wonder why some people always have lots of
problems with their computer and whether this sort of thing has anything to do with it. I reckon that a little patience pays off. Just wait until it has finished whatever it is doing.

There are utilities for Windows that perform a similar task and on Vista and 7 it is useful to install some desktop gadgets. There are some good ones to choose from and I like the gadgets at AddGadget.com. There are some great ones, such as All CPU Meter, Network Meter, and Drives Meter. Another one to try is System Monitor at Build A Gadget.

 

Menu Meters and desktop gadgets can explain why your computer has slowed down to a crawl and it is may be busy performing some essential housekeeping task, but it could also mean that a program has a bug or has crashed, or is poorly written too. Load a few web pages with Flash content and watch the CPU meter rise, particularly on the Mac. When CPU and disk activity rises when it shouldn't, such as after several hours working on your computer, it may be time for a reboot.

These gadgets are a bit technical, but I am convinced that keeping an eye on the system and giving it time to finish tasks before starting another pays off with greater reliability and fewer problems. It is interesting to watch these meters go crazy when you boot up first thing in a morning or after an OS update. You may be surprised at the amount of activity that goes on and I think it's best to let it finish.

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Avast! 7 - renew or replace your security software?

When you buy security software, such as an anti virus program, you subscribe to virus definition updates. You may also get program updates too. The big question is whether you should continue your subscription when it runs out or whether you should buy new security software. Which is best?

I must confess that I don't have any hard data on this, but I am willing to bet that a brand new anti virus program or other security software will beat an old one when it comes to detecting and removing malware. There may not be much difference between this year's and last year's program, but I certainly wouldn't use a program that is more than a year old.

I prefer to buy a new anti virus/spyware program each year rather than renew my subscription on the grounds that the latest technology and techniques for dealing with malware have to be better than last year's or the year before. Not only should the detection and removal be better, you usually get a better interface and more features too. The price isn't much different because discounts on security software are common. No-one pays the list price do they? Shop around!

This leads me on to Avast! 7, which is a brand new version of the anti virus/spyware software and security suite. There are three versions, Free Antivirus, Pro Antivirus and Internet Security. You can see the differences here and they range from basic to comprehensive security. The one you choose depends a lot on your technical knowledge and experience and whether people use your computer who are less knowledgable about security than you. You might want the complete security offered by Internet Security for a child's computer, but if you're a techie type you might prefer the freebie that's lean, straightforward and doesn't get in your way.

Avast! 7 features streaming updates, so that the program's malware definitions are more up to date than previously. Presumably this means that there are smaller and more frequent updates. Sometimes viruses spread very quickly and in a day or two they can infect thousands or millions of computers. (Actually, this tends to be old ones with out of date software and old versions of Windows with Windows Update turned off.)

Avast! 7 has a new File Reputation (FileRep) feature and this is community driven. If you try to run a program it is checked with an online database to see if it is OK. If lots of people have it and no problems are known then it will run OK, if it is unknown then you are warned. You can choose to run it anyway and flag it as safe if you know it's OK and this means you won't see warnings in the future when you run the program.

It has improved sandboxing and this means that a program or web browser is isolated from the rest of the system so it can't infect your PC or files. WebRep has been improved too and this checks websites and URLs you visit. It protects against known bad websites and against phishing.

I let Avast! 6 upgrade itself to Avast! 7 on an XP computer and on restarting it hung on the welcome login screen. After powering off and restarting it seems to be OK though. I think it is safer to download the new version manually, then uninstall the old one and install the new one afterwards. Avast! 7 seems to be pretty good and it is well worth upgrading.

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Chrome to get Do Not Track privacy

Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer already have Do Not Track, Opera has just got it in an experimental build and now Google has announced that Chrome is to get it too. What is it?

Many companies want to track your activities on the internet. For example, websites want to know which pages you visit and this is fair enough. They want to know which pages are popular and which aren't. They can then change the pages that aren't popular and give you more of the ones that are.

The problem is that third parties also want to track you, such as online advertisers. They have ways of tracking which websites you visit as you browse the web and they keep logs of everything you do. It is this activity that many people object to and they don't want advertisers spying on their activities, knowing everything they do, everything they see, what their favourite websites are and so on. It is this third party tracking that Do Not Track targets.

A web browser that incorporates Do Not Track sends a message to the web server each time it accesses one to tell it that you don't want to be tracked by third parties. Unfortunately, this is just a polite request and currently there is no way that it can be enforced, but it is respected by reputable websites and advertisers and the number of supporters is growing.

It will take a long time to get to 100% acceptance of Do Not Track and for everyone to stick to it, but progress is definitely being made. Chrome will be the last browser to add it and it is isn't too surprising that Google has been dragging its heels because it relies so heavily on advertising and tracking people's use of the the internet. The company has come under pressure to add the feature partly from the general public, but also partly from changes to the law, or proposed changes. See The White House is pushing for new privacy codes of conduct.

While you are waiting for Google to add Do Not Track to Chrome, you can enable it in Firefox. Click the Firefox button in the top left corner and then Options. Click Privacy in the toolbar and then tick the box Tell websites I do not want to be tracked. In Internet Explorer click the gear icon in the top right corner and select Manage add-ons. Select Tracking Protection and then click Get a Tracking Protection list online. Choose one of the lists, such as Fanboy or EasyList.

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Gatekeeper in OS X will trash your apps

Gatekeeper is the new technology coming in OS X Mountain Lion on the Apple Mac that aims to improve security by restricting what you can install. In an earlier blog I expressed my concerns about this new feature and wondered whether in the future we will have to jailbreak our Macs just as iOS users do in order to install the software we want to use.

Gatekeeper is coming in Mountain Lion, but it is actually already here in Lion. It just isn't turned on. You can enable it and see what it is like. Well, I don't like it and the reason is that it will trash your apps.

As you can see from the screen shot, Gatekeeper will tell you to move apps it doesn't recognise to the Trash. Perfectly good apps. Great apps. Apps you will love. Well, you would love if it actually allowed you to run them.

If you are running OS X Lion on your Mac and want to see Gatekeeper in action then go to the Utilities folder and run Terminal. At the command prompt enter:

sudo spctl --enable

Quit Terminal and restart your Mac. Now download an application from the internet and try to run it. Gatekeeper will allow you to run recognised apps, so you need to find an unrecognised one. Searching for freeware for the Mac, I came across MiniUsage. Download it, install it and then try to run it. You will get the same message as displayed above. OS X will tell you to move it to the Trash. The severe warning that it may damage your computer is enough to frighten most users who will quickly do the recommended action and trash this dangerous app.

It's not dangerous. It won't damage your Mac. It's a great app and I think it's really cool. OK, it's a bit of a geek tool, but then I'm a geek and I love it. I recommend you try it.

This is why Gatekeeper sucks. There are lots of great apps out there that aren't recognised by Gatekeeper and there is a danger that they will quickly disappear when OS X Mountain Lion comes out.

It is bad enough that Apple makes billions of dollars and wants to make even more by making all apps only available from the Mac App Store from which it takes a large cut of developers' profits. Worse is that it could also spell the end for independent developers like the author of MiniUsage, which by the way is donation-ware - the author asks you to donate to the American Red Cross. Not only will the author lose out, so will the American Red Cross. Nice one Apple.

If you want to turn off Gatekeeper on OS X Lion then replace the --enable with --disable:


sudo spctl --disable

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Will you have to jailbreak your Apple Mac?

If you have an iOS device like an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, you will be well aware that the only source of apps is Apple's App Store. It is not possible to download apps from elsewhere and install them. Unless, of course, you jailbreak it. This is risky and Apple doesn't like it. You could turn a perfectly good device into a lump of lifeless plastic, glass and metal. Will we soon be forced to jailbreak our Apple iMacs and MacBooks in order to install software? I predict that we will.

When the Mac App Store was launched it was a simple and convenient place to find, buy and download software for the Mac. At the time I wondered whether Apple was heading down the iOS route and whether one day only software from the Mac App Store could be downloaded and installed in OS X. It seems that we have taken one step closer to that reality With OS X Mountain Lion.

Mountain Lion was only announced yesterday and only to developers, so details are sketchy to say the least. The OS won't be available to the general public until some time this summer, so it will be a while before we all get our hands on it.

One detail from the announcement worried me. It was a new security feature and you can choose between the following three options for downloading and installing apps for your Mac:

• Mac App Store
• Mac App Store and approved developers
• Anywhere

The default setting is the second one and this means that by default you won't be able to install software from just anywhere, only from the Mac App Store and whatever developers Apple approves.

In OS X Mountain Lion this is not enforced and from what I've read so far, it looks like you can easily change it. However, there are two reasons to be worried. The first is that some people never change the default settings on their Macs. They will find that they can't install certain apps that they discover on the internet and this will directly affect developers. Their market and their sales will shrink and only those people that change the default setting will be able to install their software.

The second worry is that in a future version of OS X, perhaps the one after Mountain Lion, the last option will be dropped. "It will increase security and stability," Apple will claim, because only Mac App Store and approved developers will be allowed to install software on your Mac. You won't be able to install software from other sources.

I think that the final step in Apple's long term plan is to then drop the second option too, leaving the Mac App Store as the only source of software for the Mac. This will come in the version of OS X after the one after Mountain Lion. Apple will then completely control the software market for the Mac, just as it does with iOS. No-one will be allowed to sell any software unless it is through the Mac App Store.

This has tremendous advantages for Apple, of course, such as the roughly one third cut of all the profits it will get for all the software sold for all Macs. Just think how much money it will make. Developers will lose out though and they will find that they can't create Mac software unless they are willing to share their revenue with Apple. Some will not want to on principle, but others may find that it is not profitable because it costs money to be in the App Store.

When we get to the point where only applications from the Mac App Store can be installed on the Mac, will we then need to jailbreak it in order to install those great tools, utilities and applications that are not available in the store?

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OS X 10.7.3 is huge, but what's in it?

Have you downloaded OS X 10.7.3 for your Apple Mac yet? If you haven't, let me warn you that it is a huge update. It is a humungous 1.34Gb, which has to be a third to half the operating system when you compare it to the size of the download when you get Lion from the Mac App Store. It makes you wonder what is in it doesn't it?

There is a page at the Apple website that lists all that is new in 10.7.3, but it is hard to see how it requires 1.34Gb. It seems to contain a lot of little bug fixes, some of which you may have come across, but others you won't. It contains Safari 5.1.3 and browser upgrades are always useful though.

Somewhat irritatingly, the update adds support for a collection of foreign languages you don't use. Couldn't foreign language support be an option? What is the point of OS X 10.7.3 adding Catalan, Croatian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Slovak, Thai, and Ukrainian language support to my Mac when you don't use any of them?

You could always download the latest version of Monolingual and delete all those languages. The software doesn't say that it works with OS X Lion, only OS X up to Snow Leopard, but many people have tried it and report that it works fine. Some users say they have removed over 1Gb of foreign language files from their Mac. (Many applications contain foreign language support files, so it's not just OS X.)

A bunch of security updates are included in OS X 10.7.3 and you can see them here. When you think of security problems, you automatically think of Windows and how insecure it is, but if you read the security fixes listed in the Apple document it shows that the Mac has lots of security issues itself. For example, 10.7.3 fixes "Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to the disclosure of sensitive information," also "Viewing a maliciously crafted image... may lead to...  arbitrary code execution," and "Playing maliciously crafted audio content may lead to... arbitrary code execution," and "Viewing a maliciously crafted movie file may lead to... arbitrary code execution," and so on.

Basically, websites, images, music, movies and documents can all cause code, possibly malicious, to be executed on the Mac. This is just the tip of the iceberg and the page listing the security updates is long and detailed. It appears that the bulk of the 1.34Gb OS X 10.7.3 update is Apple fixing a large number of serious security flaws. Despite its large size, it is therefore well worth downloading and installing.

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Problems connecting to a shared printer

An odd situation arose yesterday regarding connecting to a printer attached to a computer on my home network. The computer was running Windows 7, the printer was an HP DeskJet 3050, it was plugged in using a USB cable and the printer was set up as shared in Windows 7. Everything was correct and working fine.

I wanted to print from another computer on the network, an old one that was running Windows XP. I went to Printers and Faxes in the Control Panel, clicked Add a printer, chose to browse for it on the network and the Windows 7 PC was there. The shared devices on the Win 7 PC could be seen and the printer was added. Fine.

The problem occurred because there were accounts on the XP PC for others in the household. You can't add a shared printer for everyone to use, you must log on to each user account and add it all over again. I logged off as me, logged onto my wife's account and tried to add the printer. Although I could see the Windows 7 PC, I could not see any shared devices. There was no printer. I logged off, logged back on as me and the printer was there, log off, log on to my wife's account and it wasn't.

I logged off and logged on as one of my kids. (Everyone's account is an administrator as is common in XP in case you were wondering.) I went to Printers and faxes, clicked Add a printer, selected browse on the network and there was the Windows 7 PC and the shared printer.

This was odd. My account and my child's account could see the shared printer and add it, my wife's account couldn't.

One of the strange things I have noticed with XP (and possibly Vista and 7) is that not all accounts are created equal. Here were three admin accounts, two of which were fine and one that wasn't. My account was the first one created and is the one I use when installing software. It has few problems and always seems better than the others. The question was, what was the difference between my wife's and my child's accounts?

One difference was that my wife's account had a password and my child's didn't. I took the password off my wife's account in Control Panel/ User Accounts and magically it could see the shared printer on the Windows 7 PC on the network.

Why would having a password on your account stop you from seeing and connecting to a shared resource on the network? That's bizzarre, but it's what happened and removing the password solved the problem.

Whenever you are doing anything that involves the network, such as connecting to shared resources, installing software that uses the internet and so on, you should always disable all security. The firewall is an obvious thing to disable of course, but it seems that you also have to remove the password on your account too. When everything is set up and working, you can enable the security again.

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iPad textbooks - not such a good deal?

In an earlier post I wondered why publishing companies would be so willing to sell $50 - $100 educational textbooks for $14.99. A post on Mashable explains why this isn't as good a deal as it seems.

I won't go into all the details because you can read it for yourself. A lot hinges on who owns the iPad and the textbooks. If schools had to buy an iPad for every student so that they could use textbooks purchased from the iTunes store then it would cost $27 billion, calculated by multiplying the number of students in the US by the price of the iPad. Bear in mind that iPads will last four or maybe five years, so this is a recurring cost for schools too. It seems unlikely to happen.

Who owns the textbook on the iPad? This is where it gets interesting. Apparently, a textbook has to be linked to a student's own iTunes account. So although the school may purchase it, only the student it is linked to can use it. This means that each year the school has to buy a whole new set of textbooks for the new students coming through.

With traditional paper books the student hands in the text book at the end of the year and the teacher hands them out next year to the next lot of students. This is why publishers can afford to sell iPad textbooks so cheaply. A paper book gets re-used year after year whereas an iPad textbook has to be purchased new every year. Over four or five years it can actually work out more expensive for schools to purchase iPad textbooks instead of paper-based text books.

I knew there had to be a reason why iPad textbooks were so cheap. It seems that publishers aren't so stupid after all. They'll actually make more money on textbooks than text books.

It will be very expensive for schools to buy iPads and textbooks, which could prevent them from becoming as successful as Apple would like everyone to believe. I think the main benefit will be for children of well-off parents with the money to buy iPads and textbooks for all their children. I can't see schools footing the bill.

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Why buying over the net isn't much fun

There are lots of great online stores offering a wide variety of goods from electrical goods to fresh food. Although there are many fantastic bargains to be found and savings to be made, the one major flaw with them is the delivery of the item you have purchased. It's a pain.

Today is delivery day and the item I have ordered, a new wireless router, is due to arrive. The company has given be a delivery time of 7am to 6pm. Does it really think I'm going to get up at 6.50am just in case it comes early or stop in the house for 11 hours on a weekday when I'm supposed to be working?

I can't change my routine just to please the delivery company. I have things to do, places to go, people to see and so on. If I'm in when it arrives then great, but if I'm not then it means the parcel will be taken back to the local sorting office. Tomorrow (yoiu have to wait 24 hours before going to pick it up) I'll have to drive all the way across town through the traffic to get it and then drive all the way back again. It's really frustrating.

This is why I often don't mind paying a few pounds more for some things and buying in the high street. At least I get the item there and then and don't have to wait two weeks only to be out when it comes. Surely it wouldn't be too difficult to narrow down the delivery to a morning or afternoon?

Parcel tracking is only partly helpful and I know, for example, that it was logged as being in my town's postal depot at 03.59 this morning. It doesn't tell me when it will arrive at my home. It could be in a van and on its way by 8am or it could sit there for 12 hours and go out late in the afternoon. Who knows? I'm not going to sit at home and listen for the doorbell all day.

Is internet shopping really progress? I long for the good old days. If only the item had been available at the local computer store. It's a 10 minute drive. I could have been there and back in 20 minutes and have the device up and running in half an hour.

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Skype update brings new features

If you use Skype to keep in touch with friends, work contacts and distant relative you should check for updates because there are new versions for both Mac and Windows.

Version 5.8 for Windows and 5.5 for Mac were released a few days ago. There aren't any huge differences in the new versions and some features are only useful if you buy Skype credit, but it's always useful to keep up with the latest developments and every update is an improvement to this useful program.

The Windows version number is greater than the Mac one and it seems that new developments are always made on Windows first and then the Mac follows some time later. It's a bit irritating if you use the Mac and I was on 5.3 and have only just upgraded to 5.5. Even 5.5 on the Mac doesn't appear to have as many features as Windows 5.5 though. The interface is slightly different and the left panel in Windows has tabs for Facebook and recent activity, a Voicemail menu item and so on. Surely it wouldn't be difficult to make them the same? And why is Edit Profile and Edit Mood Message not on the Edit menu, but on the File menu? Surely the Edit menu is for editing things?

Anyway, back to the updates. The new Mac version has a slightly updated interface and it looks better and is easier to use than the previous version. Select Contacts and the tags are shown across the top and you can select them to show just those contacts, such as those online, your Facebook contacts, Address Book contacts, groups you have created yourself and so on. On the Home screen you can show Skype, Facebook or all contacts, and see Facebook posts. You can post to Facebook from within Skype making it easy to chat to non-Skype friends. Apart from the user interface tweaks, there is increased video stability and quality, the ability to accept voice or video calls, easier microphone control and more. They are all small tweaks, but they are useful.

Version 5.8 for Windows brings group screen sharing which allows up to 10 people to view the same screen, although you do need Skype Premium rather than the free version. This means that you can share photos and presentations more easily with the updated version. You can hide offline Facebook contacts and just see who is online, there is support for full HD video calling, support for video and audio calling in Facebook, and support for Bing Bar. There is also push-to-talk. Game players asked for this feature, so when you are playing a multi-player game you can press hotkey to turn the microphone on and say something to your mates.

 Go and get Skype, it's free.

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2012 security threat report

Sophos has posted an interesting item on its website, the Security Threat Report 2012 and it is worth spending a few minutes reading it. Apparently commercial software kits are available to create malware and the increasing availability means that people are more easily able to create viruses, Trojans, rootkits and other undesirable infections.

Everything we do these days involves the web and so criminals are increasingly using this to target people. Sophos reckons that there were an astonishing 30,000 new infected URLs every day in the last half of last year.

The Conficker worm is thought to have infected 11 million Windows PCs, but the main reason for this is that people aren't using Windows Update to download and install all the latest updates and security patches. Update Windows, install a decent security program and you're protected. How hard is that? Yet millions of people don't and that's partly why Windows malware spreads so widely and so fast. If you think you may have this infection then there's a free removal tool here.

Fake anti virus programs used to be rife, but they are in decline. When you are browsing the web you may see a page or a pop-up that says your PC may be infected with a virus or it might offer a free scan, which then says you're infected. You are then offered an anti virus program that will clean up your PC - for a fee. Never install any anti virus program this way, you'll regret it. The fall in numbers of these may be due to successes in catching the perpetrators or maybe people are just getting wise to this con trick.

Sophos said, "In June of 2011, the FBI busted a cybergang that tricked nearly a million people into buying its fraudulent software. The fake antivirus software ranged from $49.95 to $129 apiece, and the scam netted more than $72 million."

Last year the Rustock botnet was taken down. It had the capacity to send out 30 billion spam emails a day! That's an incredible number. When it was shut down spam dropped by 30%. It was sending out emails trying to sell Viagra and other pharmaceuticals.

There are many more interesting fact and figures in the Security Threat Report 2012 so go and take it look. It's worth a read.

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