SDS

I was going by this series of articles: http://www.techsupportalert.com/free-vs-paid-av.htm I know it is a couple of years old. When he wrote them - the built-in trojan scanners were useless then. Have they been improved?

They downloaded and ran just fine. I assume the current versions still provide some level of protection. no? These aren't high risk users. No p2p here, just normal surfing and email. So, your recommendation is eTrust AV? Are software firewalls necessary?

yep, already do that... I'm a mac guy, so I don't kow the ins and outs of all the products but I know Vista changes a lot of things. I'm not even sure the free AV programs have been updated yet to support Vista.

please no responses like the one above. They are new machines and Vista is installed. That is what I am working with.

I have friends that rely on me for setting up their systems. After doing my usual thing and reading up on some other things - here is what I recommend for them: 1. Either AVG Free or NOD32 (commercial) anti-virus program 2. Adware free and Spybot Search and Destroy malware scanners 3. Unfortunately ewido is now a part of AVG paid, so I need a free anti-trojan horse scanner replacement 4. Linksys router (hardware firewall) 5. WPA encryption (with a 20+ character passphrase), plus other wireless stuff. I know WPA2 is better, but I'm not certain every machine they have supports it. Does that sound reasonable? Is a software firewall necessary? What is included w/ Vista that needs ot be configured? Would ZoneAlarm be necessary w/ the hardware firewall? w/ Vista?

I will keep a running update on the number of deaths caused by the white menace that is seeking to claim the lives of the innocent.

For those of you who say Irvin was "wrong" or "controversial" in his comments, let me axe you one thing... Where did you buy your Irvin decoder ring? I couldn't understand a damn word that came out of his mouth. It's like he was hiding a kilo of coke in his cheek....

I added some code to strip the offending html from the input in case he tries it again... here is one ip address he used if anyone wants to sleuth: 64.191.6.72

what do you mean? The code that caused it was deleted. Are you still having problems?

I just checked my logs - no inside job. I just have to make some more adjustments. Thanks for the heads up. Next time please PM too...

I'm a little baffled by it. This prick has submitted this link before - we just delete them as they are held in the queue. Somehow - this one was approved though.

fixed... not a hack per se, just a link that got submitted by a reader (bot?) that caused a redirect. I need to scrub the input a little better to prevent this.

we'll send buckeyemike out to measure that.... .... twice.

I guess we know what you measured it with....

I went w/ the the Think Geek plush microbes. Gonorrhea, Ebola, and Mad Cow... Thanks for all your advice!

that actually sounds like a useful gift or at least too subtle of a joke for non biologists.

here is his seminar: Thursday, February 15, 2007 HELMINTH-INDUCED CHANGES IN PULMONARY IMMUNITY: ALERNATIVELY ACTIVATED ALVEOLAR MACROPHAGES AND MODULATION OF RESPONSES TO ALLERGEN CHALLANGE Joshua Reece, PhD Candidate. Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology Thursday, February 15, 2007 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM East Baltimore Building: Bloomberg - 615 N. Wolfe Street Room: W2030 Cost: FREE Sponsored by: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, JHSPH, Tylis Cooper, 410-614-4232, tycooper@jhsph.edu Thesis Defense Seminar so it looks like molecular microbiology...

barring something tasteful and funny - I'll need to go to the other extreme and get him the raunchiest, most disgusting porn mag I can find.

it is either in molecular biology or biochemistry - I don't remember. He will be working for the USDA.

a guy on my hockey team is defending next week. I wanted to pick up a nice smart ass gift. Any suggestions?

today, Kiper said he had to move Peterson into the top 5 - kicking Quinn down to Miami...

I understand what you are saying and you are probably right, but I don't want to go through life thinking everyone is a lying ahole. She doesn't have any motive to make it up and it makes little consequence if she is right or wrong anyway. Of course, she may have only 1/2 the story. Maybe it is more like "the show is canceled if they don't regain their ratings strength".... I dunno, I'm hearing it 3rd hand.

Well, the show is very expensive to produce and the ratings have slid considerably. I don't have the numbers, but it could just be the bottom line doesn't justify keeping the show any longer. They didn't move it to 10:00pm because of strong ratings and a strong trend line. Maybe the contracts are up on the key actors and that would jack the show $ up?

you need to relax. and BTW, the more you post on the subject - the worse you come across.

FWIW, (and I know some people hate posts like these - so just put a lid on it) Deborah works with a girl whose best friend is married to one of the producers. She claims the show has already been canceled and this is the last season... I don't care if anyone believes this or not, I'm just passing it along.