My current Free Anti-Virus Software: Microsoft Security Essentials

I recently moved to Microsoft Security Essentials from Avira for my personal choice for Free based Anti-Virus software. The main issue I had with Avira was the random pop-up's I would get random times that would interfere with some important activities, mainly my Lord of the Rings Online time......during those pop-ups, my game would see a noticable slow down, so I thought it was time to move on from Avira. Other than that small issue, Avira has proved to be good Free based Anti-Virus choice in the past.

It's been about 1 week so far with Microsoft Security Essentials, and it certainly looks I will be keeping this install and letting it continue to run in the background. No unwanted pop-up's or any other type of interferece besides the required memory resources needed to run in the background. So far so good with this one from Microsoft. Definetly a great addition to the line up of available Free Anti-Virus software for Windows based systems.

http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

Windows 7

I've been hearing mostly positive comments on Windows 7. Although I have yet to exprience the interface personally, It does look promising in a number of ways. Currently I'm sticking with Windows XP Pro on my main system and Linux Ubuntu 9.10 on my secondary system. I surely will not be paying $200-$300 for the Windows 7 upgrade since I see no need at this time. I recently read a good article on someone's exprience in upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7, which explains some of the pros and yes, cons, of Microsoft's new OS.

http://www.gcn.com/Articles/2009/10/26/GCN-Lab-Review-Windows-7-Vista-by-another-name.aspx?Page=1

Mozy Online Backup

I've been using Mozy Online Backup for the last year so far and have been satisfied with it's easy to use and configure interface. I'm currently using the 2GB free service they offer and have had only one minor issue so far.

I recently had to do an online restore for files I had backed up and ran into one problem. Mozy encrypts your data for security when it is saved on their backup servers. Any data you retrieve for restoration, is still in it's encrypted format.

There is a Decryption utility that needs to be used before decrypting any data for use. I noticed that their decrypting utility was a dead link on their site, so I had to email support to retrieve it.

The link for the decryption utility is:

http://www.mozypro.com/downloads/mozyprocryptoutil.exe

Apparently the link is broken on the "free" Mozy side of the web site........hopefully this will be fixed shortly.

Other than this minor issue, Mozy seems to be good choice for free Online backup.

10 reasons Linux should be your netbook operating system!

I recently Read a good article by Jack Wallen on Techrepulic.com in regards to why Linux could be a better choice than Windows when using a netbook. Most netbook users would use a netbook for basic internet browsing along with email and basic productivity. All of this can be done with most Linux Distrobutions....and for free :o)

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=945&tag=nl.e102

Diamond Thermal Grease

This was an interesting endevor I read about, in which diamond dust was mixed with thermal grease to create a diamond based thermal compound. Most thermal grease compounds contain silver suspended in silicone. This idea takes the use of diamonds which has a higher thermal conductivity compared to silver. The exprienenet apparently resulted in almost doubled effectiveness in keeping temparatures down.

http://inventgeek.com/Projects/DiamondGrease/Page1.aspx

Ubuntu 9.04(Jaunty Jackalope)

I recently installed Linux Ubuntu 9.04 on a modest 478b socket Pentium 4/512mb RAM Motherboard with out any trouble. The install went amazinly smooth and quick that I was up and runing with Wirless Internet access to my routher with a Belkin Wirless G adapter(F5D7050) in less than 30 minuets. Looks like a great alternative for most uses.

http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download

Best Operating System for Netbooks

I was not too suprised to hear the results from CRN.com ,in regards to the best OS for the popular netbook, using the Intel's Atom Processor. If your not going to use a lightweight Linux version, than Windows XP would be your best bet. Upcoming Windows 7, which took 2nd, looks like it may be the Windows XP replacment Microsoft has been hoping for.

Best OS for Netbooks