Check Out TruPrevent Personal 2005 Review on Page 4

ISSN 1061-5725
This Month’s Presentation
Favorite and
Useful Websites
For July:
Picnic in the Park
Volume 23, No. 6
June 2005
www.ucs.org
This Month’s Meeting:
Wednesday th at 7 pm
Check
Out
TruPrevent
Personal
2005
Review on
Page 4
R.S.V.P. on our
Website:
UCS.ORG
Utah Computer Society, Inc.
PO Box 510811
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New Size, New Challenges
Starting with the July Issue, Blue Chips Magazine will
be produced in a smaller size three times a year. The reason
we are doing this is to save money. It cost quite a bit to have
the full magazine produced by a professional printer. Since our
membership is now below 100, the collected dues cannot cover
the cost of printing and mailing.
What has caused the decline in membership? Several
things; the Interned being the primary culprit. You can now find
almost any answer to any question you have
in a relatively short time. You do not have to
wait until next months meeting hoping your
questions will be answered.
Another reason is that MS Windows has
made computing very easy. You don’t have to
learn how to make or change autoexec.bat
or config.sys files, etc. Also, most programs
have standardized commands, again due to
MS Windows. Love it or hate it, Windows is
here to stay for a very long time. Even Linux
takes its cues from Windows as many of the
commands, the look and feel, are the same or similar.
Apple lead the way for awhile and forged ahead with
many innovations. Unfortunately their products were priced
much higher that IBM machines so they only cornered a small
market.
Several other systems have sought to unseat Microsoft as
the leader in computer OS’s, but most of them have failed or
only fill a niche market. Way back when, several DOS’s tried to
challenge MS, but they fell by the wayside. A DOS shell called
Geoworks was reputed to be better than Windows, but IBM
refused to bundle it on their systems, so it also died.
Then their was OS\2. Again IBM failed to promote it enough
for it to gain a foothold. WordPerfect also failed to release an
updated version which was supposed to be excellent. Why this
never happened is another story. I believe James Alexander
knows quite a bit about this unfortunate event.
Then there was BEOs. By the time this entered the scene,
Windows had cornered too much of the market for it to be
successful.
Linux is the new kid on the block and is making some
inroads in the corporate market. It’s desktop has not gained
much ground yet, but it is growing. The reason for its growth
is because it is free or costs very little.
The recent shells (like Gnome) make it look and feel much
like Windows. Where it falls down is file commands. You can
manipulate files as in Windows, but you must learn a new “language” in order to do it.
If all you want to do is word processing and the Internet
then you will have little trouble with Linux. However, if you
want to do more complicated things and run specialized programs, Linux (so far) will give you problems.
The silver lining is that Linux is being made easier as time
moves on. Keep you eye on it. Perhaps Linux someday will
challenge MS for the desktop.
I Installed Novell Linux on my computer (it went smoothly) and then tried to install a program called Win4Lin. This program runs Windows under Linux. After many
installation problems, it finally installed, but
the way it runs leaves much to be desired.
It runs about as slow as a hefty program on
an old 8088! Click and wait for about 30 to
60 seconds for something to happen. Some
things won’t work at all. I tried to move the
taskbar to the top instead of the bottom -- it
wouldn’t budge. My opinion is that Windows
programs need to be written in native Linux
in order to be successful. Using a pseudo
Windows program is not the answer.
The only attractive part of Linux is that
it is free and there are quite a few free programs written for
Linux. However, if , lets say, Adobe started to write for Linux,
I am sure they would charge the same or more than it costs for
Windows, so the only saving would be the operating system
itself and, perhaps, a few other programs.
I do believe, however, that there is a place for Linux in the
future and this is where user groups come in.
The challenge to user groups is to change with the times.
I personally don’t believe we can continue to be a “Windows
only” group. We need to cultivate expertise in Linux and Apple
in order to be a viable organization.
How many of you have had more than a “passing acquaintance” with either Linux or Apple? Would you like to see some
meetings devoted to them?
As far as Windows and other things are concerned, I
believe we need to inform our members of recently occurring events in computing. What is the state of motherboards?
What is the best video card? What is the difference between
hard drives, speeds, connections, etc.? What is the best virus
checker? How do I get the best performance from Windows?
How do I change things in Windows. How do I stop programs
from loading? How can I clean off some of those icons from
the task bar?
I am sure you have some questions to be included, let our
leaders hear from you.
New Size
and Linux
Page 2
Blue Chips Magazine —June 2005
Finè
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Page 3
Blue Chips Magazine —June 2005
TruPrevent Personal 2005
Windows Review
Advancing the Science of Security
The biggest benefits of TruPrevent
Reviewed by Don Nendell
are:
Manufacturer:
Panda Software USA
230 N. Maryland Avenue, Suite 303
P.O. Box 10578
Glendale, CA 91206 USA
Web Site:
<http://www.us.pandasecurity.com>
E-mail Tech Support:
[email protected]
E-mail PR: [email protected]
Phone: (818) 543-6909
12 Month’s (24/7) Free Worldwide Tech
Support, but only after the Absolutely Essential online Registration
For more info: Panda Software US, Ph: (800)
603-4922, or www.pandasoftware.com
FAX: (818) 543-6910
TruPrevent System Requirements:
Just like its counterparts Titanium
Antivirus 2004 and Platinum Internet
Security, TruPrevent Personal 2005 runs
on the Intel® x86 platform (including Pentium™
and compatible CPU’s from other manufacturers)
Windows 95 (OSR 2 or Higher)/98/ME/XP (Professional and Home)/NT/2000 Professional.
Please Note. A separate license is required for each computer protected by any
and all Panda Products.
Some Opening “Eye-Opening”
Thoughts on the Subject
Almost everyone has anti-virus
and anti-spyware software installed
on their PC, network and ISP, or they
definitely should. Shame on anyone,
if they haven’t! Regardless, malicious
software, viruses, spyware and hacker
attempts continue to slip through all
too easily. Why? Why indeed! Enter
TruPrevent. . .
So, Why TruPrevent?
Simply because TruPrevent
pro-actively stops attacks by using Artificial Intelligence! And, it
works with your current anti-virus protection to prevent attacks
by unknown threats.
Page 4
1. Finally, REAL-TIME protection
from New, unknown viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware & vulnerabilities
2. HIGHEST detection of new,
unknown threats in the industry
3. ZERO false positives
4. Cost Effective: Instant out-ofbox protection with NO “training”
required
5. Uses Artificial Intelligence,
NOT outdated heuristics or rules.
6. The Only Solution Available
that Automatically Stops Zero-Day
Attacks.
And, There’s Lots More Too
In the “Good ‘ol days”
Norton and McAfee were great
solutions in the old world of viruses when viruses took days, weeks or even
months to propagate. When a new virus
outbreak occurred, Norton and McAfee
would release a vaccine within a few days
if it was really serious, otherwise it could
take a week, or more, for them to release
the vaccine.
A New World – Dangerous Instant Threats
But times have radically changed.
Today, we have a new kind of malware
threat - worms, Trojans, spyware and
zero-day attacks that can work their way
around the globe and infect computers
in seconds and minutes - not hours,
days or weeks. This new generation of
threats requires an entirely brand new
approach to protection that cannot be
dependent on waiting for a new vaccine
to be created, every time there is a new
outbreak. The time has definitely come
to point out that the anti-virus industry
has been very carefully hiding the “dirty
little secret” from us all - PCs are completely vulnerable and unprotected from
virus attacks for an average of 16 hours
after any new threat is unleashed. Since
today’s average “Outbreak-to-Vaccine”
time is about 16 hours, this effectively
leaves millions of PCs and Servers vulnerable each time one of these new instantaneous threats is released.
Blue Chips Magazine —June 2005
Finally, An Automatic Solution
That Really Works
Panda Software recognized this
16-hour PC vulnerability problem - and
spent more than four years developing a
product that would actively protect users
during this critical security gap. The result. TruPrevent 2.0 is a paradigm-shifting new technology that pro-actively defends PCs from attacks. Panda Software
has pioneered a new type of Pro-active
Protection - a new category of technology that utilizes Artificial Intelligence
(AI) to determine if anything is running
on your computer that shouldn’t be. Using advanced science, TruPrevent automatically determines if your systems are
being breached, attacked, or controlled
by malicious software, even if it knows
nothing about the actual threat.
The Science Behind TruPrevent
Unlike any other Anti-Virus product on the market today, TruPrevent
doesn’t just search and destroy viruses
- this single technology also “Attacks”
by actively blocking anything malicious
that you put in its path - including adware, spyware, Trojans, worms, spybots
and hacker attempts. With TruPrevent
there is no need to install, learn, tune
and update separate applications.
Panda’s TruPrevent Technology does
this without any user intervention by
using patent-pending behavioral- and
correlation-based AI algorithms. These
highly effective AI algorithms become
even smarter over time, using “automatic global learning” derived from
the huge installed base of TruPrevent
customers. Unlike competing antivirus products that rely on “signature
files” and rules - those which can only
detect old, known viruses - TruPrevent
utilizes AI to actually “learn” the behavior patterns of malicious software, and
then pro-actively destroys it. TruPrevent
actually gets smarter over time, so it can
recognize and attack new viruses and
threats as they emerge - not just react
to old viruses.
So, How Good is TruPrevent 2.0
Really?
TruPrevent has been rated by ICSA
Labs as 98.92% effective against new
and unknown threats, repeat, “new
and unknown threats” - by far the
highest detection level in the industry.
is: “We protect your computers,
keeping your information safe
from viruses and intrusions.” Since
it was founded in 1990, Panda Software
claims that they have reinvested a high
percentage of its income in R&D, which
has allowed their company to be at the
forefront of software development, “. . .
with a qualified team of experts developing latest generation solutions.” All of
Panda Software’s solutions share the
same stable and powerful scan
engine, which supports many different platforms. This helps the company
to channel all its R&D effort into anticipating the new techniques used by malicious code, instead of simply defending
against an attack and then responding
to it. (FYI: See also my February 2004
favorable review of Titanium 2004 in
the UBC Magazine review archives at
<www.ucs.org>)
Panda Software’s solutions have received a wide range of awards, quality
seals, and recognition from specialized
press around the world, as well as, quality certifications from some of the world’s
most widely-respected organizations,
including ICSA Labs and Checkmark.
Not the least of these awards includes
“Best Antivirus Product,” which Panda
Antivirus Platinum 7.0 received in 2004,
as voted by the readers of SC Magazine. Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t
point out that it is widely recognized
that Panda’s commitment to customer
service, innovative products, and the
pioneering concept of 24h-365d tech
support has literally revolutionized the
IT security industry.
About Panda Software
As a recognized world leader and the
experts in virus and intrusion prevention for your PC, Panda Software offers
unrivaled pro-active security solutions
for all types of users, from the largest of
corporations down through small and
medium-sized companies to home users and professionals. The Panda credo
Page 5
So, what’s the matter with
Panda’s Titanium or Platinum
Internet Security?
Absolutely nothing what-soever! (See Note below) TruPrevent
is a first-of-a-kind solution designed
to work with other 3rd party anti-virus
software (other than Panda Software’s
AV programs). It adds an additional
security layer designed to protect
Blue Chips Magazine —June 2005
against UNKNOWN threats and viruses normally missed by traditional
anti-virus-only solutions. Besides, it’s
already built into both Titanium
and Platinum.
Note. A wonderful variety of
Panda Software Products (i.e., “Try
Before You Buy”), outstanding Free
Subscriptions and Special Free Offers
are also available. For more information visit Panda’s web site at <http:
//www.pandasoftware.com> (and see
also, “Best AV Software” below).
Benefits
The Primary Benefits of using
TruPrevent are: 1) Immediate and automatic updates (which can be immediately displayed via a popup window,
if the user so desires); 2) Maximum
virus protection capacity [Important
Caveat. There were nearly 95,000 (and
still growing horrifically every
day) known viruses listed in one of my
Platinum Internet Security popup windows at publication time]; and, 3) Install
and forget it (the best of all reasons to
use TruPrevent).
Using TruPrevent is like “Defensively putting an “M1A1 / M1A2
ABRAMS MAIN BATTLE TANK,
USA,” with its armor plating on your
PC for the fight of your life against
viruses (virii - Plural for virus?)!”
You’re going to need it, folks!
Key FeaturesTruPrevent Weband Media-Speak: Sales Talk
Specifics, “What You Really Need
to Know
No one would argue the importance of the Internet. It has, for better
or worse, permanently changed the way
we work, play and communicate. Before
the widespread use of the Internet, virus outbreaks were slow spreading and
limited in their area of damage. That is
not true anymore. Worse, the ability of
a virus to spread rapidly is improving.
Attacks now take on names such as
“Flash” attacks and they strike millions
of computers in a few minutes. Yet,
anti-virus techniques cannot work this
fast. They still use pre-Internet rules of
engagement. All of them, except for TruPrevent, that is. Panda is Advancing
the Science of Security™ to defeat
these attacks. Here’s why:
* Today’s smarter attacks move
faster than the speed of AV software.
* Reactive anti-virus just doesn’t
work anymore.
* Faster, “daily” online updates
* “Heuristics” & “Rules-Based,”
Pro-active protection claims are just
ways of scrambling faster to keep up
* But faster is still too slow
* Even one hour is too long to wait
when an attack strikes
Why You Need Antivirus Protection Now!
Accidental (and malicious) file deletions are a “fact of life.” But virus
infection of your PC doesn’t have to be
“one of them” with the right kind of
anti-virus protection installed. Ergo, enter Panda software. But don’t just take
my word for it. The best information in
the world right now is but a mouse click
away for you. Get with it!
Page 6
Q. So, What’s the Best AV Software For You?
A. Here’s a quick refresher on
the basic differences in (Windowsbased only) Panda AV software:
Titanium Antivirus 2004 –
Simple Antivirus - with daily updates
(Home PCs)
Platinum 7.0 - Antivirus &
Firewall - with Daily Updates (Bus/
Pro/SOHO)
Platinum Internet Security AV, Firewall, Content Filtering, Spam
Filters, Joke Filters, Anti-Dialer
- also with Daily Updates (Bus/Pro/
SOHO)
ActiveScan Pro - Free online
tool providing always up to date onetime scan for Dialers, Spyware,
Viruses and Hacking tools (Go to
<www.pandasoftware.com/activescan>
and http://www.worldwidesecure.org/
en/
TruPrevent - Pro-actively
stops attacks by using Artificial
Intelligence! It works with your
current anti-virus protection
to prevent attacks by unknown
threats – with daily updates.
Q. Have You Left a Critical Gap
in Your Data and PC Protection?
It all boils down to this: “How
valuable is the data on your PC(s) and
Server(s)?” What if you (or any of your
network users) lost an extremely sensitive “Private File,” a Trade Secret, your
financial records, a critical accounting
file, a major report, or even those wonderful digital snapshots of your family?
Tragically, if a file is accidentally or maliciously deleted, it could be gone forever.
Blue Chips Magazine —June 2005
Sad to say, with your current AV setup,
your PC is completely helpless, if
you have just been suddenly and
silently attacked by a malicious
virus or Trojan.
Note. Amazingly, I’ve not had a single virus attack to date since I installed
my Panda AV software tools on all my
computers over 18 months ago. Included
in that is my going to seven (7) different
conferences, this year alone, and hooking into all their different “Open” wireless (WLAN) networks with my laptop,
this has got to be truly impressive.
Time and again, you’ve heard
me lament, “Happiness will forever be a working computer!”
Yet, one more time, here’s a tip of
my hat ;-} and a truly “sincere” and
“very special” thanks to all the very
friendly Panda Software folks I met
down at Networld+Interop 2005 (now
called Interop). It obviously goes without saying, “I’m certainly enjoying my
Panda TruPrevent protection to date.
It’s very definitely a Keeper!”
Bottom line. For everybody’s
safety’s sake plus your own complete
peace of mind, “Please don’t hesitate a single second getting TruPrevent on your computer right
away!” I strongly implore you,
“Don’t leave home (e.g., go Surfing) without it.”
And finally, today, for me, happiness is a virus-free PC. Especially one
protected by Panda’s TruPrevent 2.0.
Ciao!
Diskeeper 9.0 Home Edition
Windows Review
The Number One Automatic Defragmenter
Reviewed by Don Nendell
Manufacturer:
Executive Software
7590 N. Glenoaks Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91504
WebSite:http://
www.Diskeeper.com
E-mail: tech_
[email protected]
[email protected]
Phone: (800) 829-6468
FAX: (818) 252-5514
90-day Free Tech Support
System Requirements:
Diskeeper 9.0 Home Edition operates on the Intel® x86 platform (including Pentium™ and compatible CPU’s
from other manufacturers) running
Windows 95 (OSR 2 or Higher)/98/
ME/XP and 2000 Professional.
Caveat. Only Diskeeper Professional Edition supports Windows NT
4.0 Workstation
A Diskeeper license is required for
each computer to be de-fragmented
Please Note: Diskeeper® 9.0 Home
can be purchased for only $19.95,
or is available right now for
downloading on a 30-day trail basis. Visit <http://www.Diskeeper.com>
for more information
What’s New in Diskeeper® 9.0
(DK9)?
With disk storage space seemingly increasing almost exponentially
in today’s massive hard drives (keeping up with Moore’s law?), and since
“Defragmenting the Hard Disk
Drive” is the first line of defense for
keeping the system at top performance,
just think, for as little as $19.95, you can
speed up your system to like-new levels of performance and reliability with
the world’s best-selling automatic disk
defragmenter for Windows, Diskeeper
9.0.
And, Here’s a News Flash for
You:
May 19, 2005, Burbank, CA – In its
19th year of developing the world’s greatPage 7
est disk defragmentation
software, Executive Software announced today
that Diskeeper®9.0 and
Undelete® 5.0 have been
given the coveted Editors’
Choice awards in the May
24th edition of PC Magazine (Ed Note. For the third year in a
row). Diskeeper - The number one
automatic defragmenter™, is the industry leader, consistently employing
the most cutting-edge technology such
as Smart Scheduling® and I/O Smart™
to allow seamless daily defragmentation
of systems. Diskeeper is the most highly
awarded system tool of its kind - with a
record 231 awards and editor accolades
received in 2004 alone. Diskeeper has
long been recognized as the market
leader in disk defragmentation with over
16 million sold, spanning the spectrum
from consumers to the enterprise.
Richard Dragan of PC Magazine
stated, “Diskeeper provides both quick
and advanced options for defragging. It
achieved the fastest test scores for both
modes, incidentally. Of course, scheduling defragmentation is smarter and
less- time consuming than launching it
manually and Diskeeper provides excellent control over the settings. Diskeeper
9.0 and Undelete 5.0 are available for
sale and can be purchased through your
favorite reseller. More information on
Diskeeper and Undelete are available at:
<http://www.executive.com>
Speeding up your system(s)
with new Diskeeper 9.0
Disk fragmentation causes crashes,
slowdowns, freeze-ups and even total
system failures. The number one reason
for performance bottlenecks is fragmentation. Even the best hardware will eventually slow down when fragmentation is
left unchecked because the disk drive is
by far the slowest of the three main
components of your computer: CPU,
Blue Chips Magazine —June 2005
memory and hard disk.
Manual defragmentation just
isn’t practical in today’s fast-paced
PC environment. One giant problem
facing the fast-paced knowledgeable user is the built-in defragmenter
takes to long to run and simply just
doesn’t get the job done right. The
best solution? NEW Diskeeper 9 is
the “Set It and Forget It”® high-speed
defragmenter that runs undetectably in
the background and makes the problems of fragmentation go away forever!
It’s a well established fact that without
Diskeeper’s “Set It and Forget It” automatic scheduling your computer will
slow down. But, with Diskeeper, you
never need to worry about fragmentation-related slowdowns and crashes
because Diskeeper handles the problem for you.
In a Nutshell, Here’s How
Fragmentation Affects You:
* Sluggish performance, especially
when running multiple applications
* Slow application load times
* Slow booting/startup (or inability
to boot at all)
* Long load times to open graphics
* Slow file saves
Random Crashes, Freeze-ups
and Lock-ups:
“Going, Going, Gone!”
Diskeeper 9 Home Edition is the
most cost-effective way to keep your PC
running like it did when it was brand
new, without the need for that everso-slow, time-consuming manual,
built-in Windows defragmentation system. Diskeeper 9 Home Edition goes to
work as soon as you install it, running in
the background to restore and maintain
your PC’s performance.
Diskeeper 9 Home Edition can be
fully configured through its intuitive,
easy-to-use interface. If you prefer a
“hands-off” approach, you need do
nothing after installation; it will automatically go to work in the “Set It and
Forget It” mode. You probably won’t
even know when it’s running, but you
will see the results - Increased speed and
stability. That’s what is meant by “Set It
and Forget It”!
Diskeeper 9 is packed with features
and new technology that keep your systems running at top speed and protects
critical system files, ensuring like-new
levels of performance. Get Diskeeper 9
Home Edition, and see all this first hand
for yourself! It’s Free to try before
you’d ever need to buy it! So, “What
have you got to lose?”
Serious Caveat. If you’re considering buying Diskeeper 9.0 Home
Edition, please take the following
friendly advice into consideration:
You can get a whole world of difference
in improvement over DK9 Home with
Diskeeper 9 Pro. For more details and an
update, please visit the Diskeeper web
site at <http://www.executive.com/
diskeeper/diskeeper.asp> and also,
please see my reviews of Diskeeper
8.0 Pro and Diskeeper 9.0 Pro
in the February 2004 and December
2004 issues, respectively, found in
the UBC Magazine Archives at<http:
//www.ucs.org./index.php>.
Page 8
Regardless of whichever version you
choose for yourself, you can’t ever go
wrong with either one. Each in its own
way is definitely a “(Disk) keeper!”
Time, and Time Again, I’ve lamented herein, “Happiness will
forever be a working computer!”
Blue Chips Magazine —June 2005
With my best wishes and strong recommendations for your self-satisfying,
computing “piece of mind and ultimate
happiness,” please do enjoy your success
with the New Diskeeper® 9.0 Home
Edition. I do!
Enjoy.
Ciao!
Building Your Own Computer
By LeRoy Johnson with notes
from James Alexander
Since I was the only member of UCS
that took up the Intel offer of “Build Your
Own Computer,” I am left to record the
experience for any of you who might
wonder whether you missed out on the
chance of a life time. Or at least maybe
chance of this year.
Before deciding to take up this offer, I looked at what machines the computer stores were offering at comparable
prices. I queried some of the more experienced members, particularly on the
Board of Trustees, on whether I would
end up with a competitive machine.
No one exactly jumped at the offer as
being an exceptionally good buy, but
all seemed to agree that it was a very
reasonable price for what you would
get. You remember if you were at the
March meeting, Rick Gregory priced
out the components if you bought them
separately at the best price you could
find anywhere on the internet. The best
price was about $100 less than the BYO
computer offer. Our judgment was that
ordering them and receiving them as a
package was worth the extra.
So what did I get? A very fast machine and the experience of seeing how
a computer is put together. However
there was also some downside. One
thing was the time it took to complete
the project. I ordered the components on March 22nd. Intel responded very quickly and PC
Club got them in on the 25th.
I picked them up on March
28th. Then James Alexander
and I tried to find a time to
get together. We decided we
would need a Saturday to do
the work.
Shortly after picking
up the components, I went
to Arizona for two weeks to
baby-sit grandchildren. When I got back
we tried to find a time. The first time we
could both get together was April 30th.
The point of this is that when you BYO
computer, it takes time as compared to
walking into the computer store, putting
down your money, and walking out with
the computer ready to run.
James came to my home, and he
spent five and a half hours directing
me in the assembly. This of course,
took more time than if he had done
it all himself. But then came another
“downside.”
If you were at the March meeting
you remember Sean Wolsey’s comment
that he had too many bad experiences
with assembling computers from parts
that did not work together and from the
headaches of trying to solve the problems of incompatibility. It was observed
that because Intel had assembled these
components before hand, the incompatibilities that been worked out. Well that
didn’t turn out to be the case. What we
ran into was:
1. The “Card Reader” add-on did not
fit the mother board. The USB wires to
the mother board had one of the five
holes plugged. The instructions did not
cover this problem.
Page 9
Special Report
Blue Chips Magazine —June 2005
2. When adding this add-on card
reader, there were five USB wires to
plug into the mother board. There are
only four USB ports on the mother
board. One of the ports on the front
of my computer is not plugged in. It is
dead. Not very elegant! It will take an
internal USB hub to hook them all up.
(James’s note, this issue of not matching
the motherboard connectors is a serious flaw. PC-Club was the company who
put this deal together. The conflict came
from failure to integrate three pieces of
hardware: the Motherboard (which I
was somewhat impressed with) had only
2 USB hubs internally for use, both 9 pin
combo plug-ins (a 10 pin plug, missing
1 pin); the case has 2 USB 5 pin plugs (1
pin blocked) for the front side connectors; and the card reader has 1 combo
9 pin (10 pin with 1 blocked) and two
USB 5 pin plugs (1 pin blocked). This
was clearly a case of unmatched parts
causing the loss of, at best, 1 connector,
and realistically 2 connections. The card
reader by itself needs an additional USB
hub to work with the motherboard.)
3. The computer came with two 80
gig hard drives which are designed to
work as Raid technology. When we came
to hooking them up, there was only one
SATA cable. We required two. When I
called PC Club to find out why we were
one short, I was told that since
most computers use only
one hard drive, it was
standard to bundle only
one cable. I would need to
buy another one for $10.
But since I live a few
blocks from a Totally
Awesome Computer
store, I went there
This was destined to give us problems. Windows XP does not have
a driver for this card, and the
ATI web page download gave us
some problems. (James’s note
- Though I did not work this
area through with LeRoy,
I learned some things.
This new PCI express
video card requires
a separate power
connection, and
tells you so
if you do not
connect such.
to buy the second cable. Guess
what? Totally Awesome gave me a
SATA cable free. How’s
that
for customer service, even when you
are not a customer. (James’s note, this
was poor customer service on the part
of PC-Club, they sold two SATA harddrives, but only shipped one cable. And
the store located a longer distance away,
would only respond “come on down and
we will sell you one.” I will not say anything more, other than, you may guess
who may have lost a future sale.)
LeRoy
had
bought the OEM package instead of the retail
box. If you are new to the
product, there is less grief
buying the retail package
which adds parts not found
with an OEM product. In this
case, the extra parts would have
included: a manual and installation
guide; a CD of drivers and add-on
software. and connectors. Except for
the connectors, everything can be
downloaded for most manufacturer’s
websites.)
4. There was no manual for the
computer case even though the instructions directed us to refer to the
case manual. (James’s note - Good
thing I have built a few systems; the
little differences between product and
instructions would have destroyed
most presentations.)
It was a good thing that they
supplied the CD for Windows XP because we ended up reinstalling several times. I never did figure out what
caused these problems, and I hope
that I don’t have anymore trouble.
5. The case had plug-in wires for a
microphone and earphones, but there
was no place to plug them on the mother
board. (James’s note - Those who do
audio-video work, this was a sad ‘case’
of mis-matched components. Intel’s
presentation was general clear cut, but
some of these areas made me think parts
had been swapped when the order was
put together.)
6. Although it didn’t phase James,
I would have been left wondering about
leftover parts. There was a plug in minispeaker which had no place to go.
7. On my own, I purchased and added a ATI Radeon X800 graphics card.
Page 10
fine. However, when I shut it down
and restarted it in the morning, it gave
me error messages. When I put in the
Windows XP disk and tried to run the
repair option, it told me “Set up did
not find any hard disks installed. So as
of May 20th, I have a dead computer
on my desk.
This brings up the point. With
BYO computer who is responsible for
solving problems? If anyone goofs up
in building the thing, there is really
no recourse. If you buy it from the
computer store, you can always take
it back if it doesn’t work.
Did I learn from doing this? Yes, of
course. Could I do it again by myself?
I doubt it. Would I try to do it again?
No way! (James’s final note - I enjoyed
doing this, but there were some points
where the presentation and the real
world did not match. Those points
were frustrating.
For me the most frustrating point
was about setting up the SATA hard
drives. The screen that was shown in
the presentation materials was not accessible until I was able to decipher
the on-screen text which lasted less
than a micro-second during each reboot. Multiple re-boots (more than
10) later I was able to access and then
do the formatting.
So how do you factor in the “cost”
in time spent getting this education?
Since James is a state employee, I
guess his time isn’t worth all that
much. However his wife didn’t seem
to think six hours on a Saturday was
time with no value. I ended up emailing James several times about
problems. I was appreciative and also
impressed that he was able to troubleshoot without coming back.
Sadly, there is still difference
between the manufacturers’ numbers
and technical specifications: we had 2 80 GB SATA drives, but set up showed
less than 146 GB available. Yes, the
drives contained 80,000,000,000
bytes, but that is not equal to 80 GB
(1024 x 1024 x 1024). The drive should
have held 85,899,345,920 bytes to
have equaled 80- GB. The drives contains about 74.51 GB of actual storage, plus set-up and formatting take
up space as well.
Since James had put in time
beyond the call of duty and was
fighting kidney stones, I had Sean
Wolsey come to my house on his way
to May’s meeting to help me getting
everything finished up. Sean spent
two more hours helping me. When
Sean left the computer was working
I was disappointed by the failure
to match the components in this kit,
something PC-Club should have been
more on top of. The lesson about having good manuals is self-evident; but
also the caution against buying OEM
packages instead of retail boxes just to
save costs applies just as clearly.)
Blue Chips Magazine —June 2005
Presidents Corner
Hope you members aren’t getting
impatient on receiving a membership
survey - I’m still waiting to hear from
ALL your Board members on what
questions to include. Believe there are
only three slow-pokes at this point. Of
course, members are also welcome to
contribute to this undertaking by sending suggestions to [email protected] or to
me directly at [email protected]. You may
request confidentiality.
on the Help drop down menu presents
you with a screen with “Patent and
Legal Notices” and “Scroll Credits”
buttons. No exit button for this screen!
Guess what? The ESC key will close the
window (as will Task Manager). Why
do you suppose the programmer failed
to provide a visual exit?? Do all Adobe
products use ESC to close windows?
That’s not default Windows program
behavior!
Interested in freeware? Some would
say that is the definition of a computer
users group member. 8-) If you answered
yes anyway, take a look at my page at
http://members.csolutions.net/rfg/
Freeware%20Links.html - no advertising revenue generated, just something
I’m passing on. Do you have similar
pages of links you would be willing to
share? Let me know, and if there are a
large number, perhaps we can have Bob
add a page to the UCS web site.
Clicking the Patent button opens the
license agreement, the bottom of which
has this interesting Utah connection:
I happened to be “messing with”
Adobe Reader 6.0.1, mostly to see what
version I actually had. Thought the following might be of interest.
Clicking “About Adobe Reader x.x”
Do you shop at Office Depot,
Office Max or
Staples
If so, use the following
numbers for Blue Chips
to receive credit for your
purchases
Office Depot Advantage
1100058898
OfficeMax MaxPerks
1026-77099
Staples Business Rewards
34567 91452
“Copyright (c) 1993 The University of Utah and the Computer Systems
Laboratory (CSL). All rights reserved.
Permission to use, copy, modify and
distribute this software and its documentation is hereby granted, provided
that both the copyright notice and this
permission notice appear in all copies
of the software, derivative works or
modified versions, and any portions
thereof, and that both notices appear
in supporting documentation.
THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
AND CSL ALLOW FREE USE OF THIS
SOFTWARE IN ITS “AS IS” CONDITION. THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
AND CSL DISCLAIM ANY LIABILITY
OF ANY KIND FOR ANY DAMAGES
WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM
THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
CSL requests users of this software
to return to [email protected] any
improvements that they make and grant
CSL redistribution rights. _________
___________________________
_ Copyright (c) 1994 The University of
Utah and the Computer Systems Laboratory at the University of Utah (CSL).
All rights reserved.
Permission to use, copy, modify and
distribute this software is hereby granted provided that (1) source code retains
these copyright, permission, and disclaimer notices, and (2) redistributions
including binaries reproduce the notices
Page 11
Blue Chips Magazine —June 2005
in supporting documentation, and (3)
all advertising materials mentioning
features or use of this software display
the following acknowledgement: “This
product includes software developed
by the Computer Systems Laboratory
at the University of Utah.”
THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
AND CSL ALLOW FREE USE OF THIS
SOFTWARE IN ITS “AS IS” CONDITION. THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
AND CSL DISCLAIM ANY LIABILITY
OF ANY KIND FOR ANY DAMAGES
WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM
THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
CSL requests users of this software
to return to [email protected] any
improvements that they make and grant
CSL redistribution rights.”
This occurs at the very end of the
version 6.0.1 Legal Notice but is buried
in the middle of the version 7.0 Legal
Notice.
Does anyone in UCS have any insight to provide on this connection between the UofU and Adobe? If so, I’m
sure Cliff would love to have something
for the magazine (hint, hint).
-- Rick Gregory
June
Renewals
Ronald Grover
Jerry Henson
Louis G. Hutton
Curtis Jackson
Doug Jackson
Oscar Newmeyer
Frank W Peterson
LPI Certification 101 & 102
Windows Review
Linux Training Programs
Reviewed by D. “Sarge” Nendell
Manufacturer:
Makau Corporation
5252 North Edgewood Dr. Ste 225
Provo, UT 84604 USA
Ph: 801.224.9449 Toll free: 877.752.5329
e-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.makaucorp.com
Pricing: Varies with each course taken, visit
their web site for up to date information
Some Ancient History
This is going to be a little different
type of review from my regular review
style. (Ed. Note. Aren’t they all?) This
time I want to set the stage - a glareative, so to speak - for my actions
before getting into the actual review
which follows.
In the spiritual world they call
it, “Crossing Over!” In paranormal
descriptive terms they refer to it as,
“Heading toward the Light!” In death
it’s said to be, “The ‘spirit’ is in Transition!” Well, that pretty well sums up
what I have been “trying” to do with
my transition (migration) to, and learning, that illusive Linux (Yoda says, “Do
or do not, there is no such thing as trying.” To which I might respectfully
add, “Trying only gives you an excuse
to fail!”). OK!
For me, my current transition
into that “strange” Linux world is very
sadly, tragically and virtually identically reminiscent of my long, long ago
initiation into the mysterious world
of Windows, as I was converting over
from Atari’s. You might say, this time is
pretty much, “Déjà vu, all over again,”
just like when I stood up at the Utah
Computer Society’s monthly meeting
begging for “Help!” All I got for my
tribulations was, “Get OS/2.” Caveat.
To this very day, I still think I’d rip the
heads off those smart-asses, if I only
knew who they were?
Truth be known and confidentially,
in the beginning of my “self-learning”
computing career over 20-some years
ago, I was so terrified of Atari “basic”
that on occasion during the floppy
disk duplication process, I even had
a hard time remembering which hand
held that very expensive “Destination
and/or Source” 5 and 1/4 inch floppy
disk. Note. They cost more than a dollar apiece in those days and I really
thought that I would ruin one with but
a simple mistake. Once, it even took me
three (3) days to find a simple “space”
that was fouling up an Autorun.exe
batch file I was altering. It was that
bad!
I have that same identical feeling
in my gut approaching my transition
into the Linux world from Windows.
I’ve wanted to learn Linux (back then
it was UNIX) programming as long ago
as 8+ years. That is, ever since I hired
a UNIX programmer “Hacker” friend
to break into our radically “New” symmetrical encryption-based (SE) (ala
one-time pad) PassPhrase Creator
and Manager program. I literally sat
spellbound - watching right over his
shoulder - as he proceeded to steal the
idea from us. Note. I hired him real
fast, naturally, and his name appears
on our U.S. patent today. But, back to
our (his)story.
I’ve sat in total amazement, complete awe, and shaken my head, more
often than not, during my past five (5)
trips to “Lost Wages” (Las Vegas) to
attend DEFCON conferences and a
Black Hat Briefing in 2000. Gawd, I
really wanted to do that too! No, not
the spiky, dyed hair style with the black
leather “Goth” look, but to be a part,
not apart, from all that excitement.
Tell me, how can you be a “cast out”
when you haven’t even been “let in”
yet?
But, that’s certainly not the right
attitude necessary if we want to get
“all” those windows “pukes” out there
to transition (migrate) over into Linux,
now is it? I don’t think so either? But
the prevalent, holier-than-thou “Linux
is Tao” attitude, that I’ve seen up close
and first hand, won’t cut it any longer
either, I maintain. So, here goes my at-
Page 12
Blue Chips Magazine —June 2005
tempt to help those “others” out there
who may quite possibly also need help
getting started in their own migration.
Happy New Ground - The Past
At my ninth annual Novell BrainShare, SUSE 9 Linux Desktop was installed for me on my Laptop in a dual
boot mode. That was the kicker for
me. With all that GUI stuff on there, I
was off and running. I came out of the
Linux closet, so to speak, and wrote my
first Windows/Linux review, Lin4Win
Pro (See also BCM Archives at < http:
//www.ucs.org/mag/pdf/may05.pdf >
e.g., the May 2005 issue). It certainly
seems like the perfect tool for me to go
from the “Known to the Unknown.” I
thought, here I could use some of the
old familiar Windows “Gotta’ have’s,”
while slowly ingesting Linux. I can now
proudly and loudly proclaim, “I’ve got a
Linux Box too!” Don’t know how to use
it yet, but “I’ve gotta’ box.” It may not
have an Apple painted on the lid, but
“I’ve gotta’ box.”
Fertile New Ground - The Present
Now comes the hard part - learning Linux. Where do I (or anyone, for
that matter) start? I naturally bought
my first “Dummies” book, yes, that
one for Linux. Gawd again, it’s a boat
anchor - Queen Mary size. Then too,
there’s nothing “simple” about being
shown about ten different versions of
Linux in going that particular route.
There must be a better way? Hold on a
sec, the Windows part is coming.
Viola, enter Makau, an exhibitor
from that self-same 2005 BrainShare
conference. Very gently and kindly,
Nathan Bryant, Makau’s Large Accounts Manager, handed me a very
handsome carrying case containing
a 14 CD-ROM self-training course
to help me learn Linux, and also
to review. The Course Title: “LPI
Certification 101 & 102 on Windows.”
The CD-ROM’s run on both Windows,
and yes, on Linux too. Gotta’ admit it
though, at first, even that Linux part
intimidated me. Yet, when I got a little
deeper into them, I got that ‘ol “Déjà
vu” feeling once again that I’d seen this
exact same stuff early on during my 3day “hands-on” Windows Hardware
classes I reviewed here in BCM about
6-7 years ago. I must say that course was
simply “awesome,” exactly like these
LPI 101/102 courses are. Ergo, seems to
me like there’s a light at the end of the
Linux train(ing) tunnel, and it’s not the
iron version. Now, I’ve got to see if they
run in Win4Lin Pro (after I activate my
XP Pro with Microsoft again)? (Follow up Note. Unfortunately, the LPI
CD’s didn’t quite make it.) Oh Well!
C’est la vie!
To give these marvelous courses
the added journalistic professionalism
they rightly deserve, I’m “enlisting”
(good terminology here) the “aid” of
my more learned computer “Guru”
colleague - also a BCM Review Editor
Associate - James Alexander, to put a
greater “in-depth” shine/spin on these
wonderful products. He says he will report the specifics of LPI 102/102 to you
in a couple of months.
With that, I must say, FDR was certainly right on when he said, “The only
thing we have to fear, is fear itself!” So,
move on over you “purists,” here comes
“Sarge!” I may have started out “Knowing Nothiinng!” but, I’m certainly learning fast, thanks in large part to Novell
and, most especially to Makau. Eee-haa!
And now, being Paul Harvey-ish, here’s,
“The Rest of the Story!”
interact with the instructor. They literally partner with you to provide blended
learning solutions for individuals, and
most especially, institutional and corporate training.
Makau Corporation Training
Please allow me to introduce to you
Makau (pronounced “ma-cow”) - the
training specialists. They’re located
right here in our very own Utah, Provo to
be more exact. They can really help you
learn a lot of “stuff.” Makau has taken
the concept of people teaching people
and wrapped it in the latest technology
for distribution. They deliver over 300
certification, desktop, development,
professional training, and custom solution courses. I even counted 24 specific
Windows related courses (only those
listed
under the “W’s”) in
their curriculum
alone. And that’s
not all. With access to hundreds
of expert trainers, Makau also
offers customized
courses through
on-site or live
training sessions
over the Internet.
These sessions
allow students to
ask questions and
So, What’s it all About Alfie?
As companies grow and technologies expand, keeping employee skills
up-to-date becomes more driven by
technology. With larger staffs, more
regulations and smaller training budgets, eLearning is becoming a training
necessity. Designing curriculum, managing servers, administering training,
and staying up-to-date with course content can overwhelm both IT and Human
Resource (HR) managers. Add network
performance and security concerns, and
a full-scale eLearning solution may seem
too complicated to attempt. And, just
“try” staying up to date on your own,
you’ll immediately see how tough it really is in today’s world. But, not to fear,
there’s friendly help available out there,
and it’s as close as a simple click of your
mouse button. Here’s how.
The Makau’s flagship product, the
Makau Learning Appliance, a serverbased learning library, provides easy,
cost-effective training management
solutions and takes complication,
guesswork, and high expense out of
eLearning. It is a system that combines
a learning management system, course
Page 13
Blue Chips Magazine —June 2005
Blended and On-line Training
Makau advertises, “If your company
needs more diverse training options,
such as on-site training, self-paced
training running inside your firewall,
or even customized courses, or learn
on-line with video-rich training in certification, desktop applications, development, professional skills and more,”
Makau can do!
By using Flash technology and proprietary management tools, they are able
to playback video of expert instructors
along with integrated screen demos and
constant access to tables of content – all
without installing anything on the user’s
computer. This video-rich content can
then be delivered on CD-ROM, DVD,
an installed server, or even over the
Internet. In short, Makau has created a
virtual-classroom learning system with
a wide range of delivery options that is
both flexible and easy to use.
* Video-rich step-bystep presentations
* Demonstrations
* Electronic workbooks
* Pre- and post-assessment tests
libraries, and security protocol on a network attached storage device that can be
accessed over your existing network, or
even in your own environment. You will
have access to:
* Over 300 multi-media course modules with new courses added annually
* A built-in Learning Management
System for easy administration
* A server-based license instead of
complicated multi-user licenses
* Available on-site installation and
training by a Makau learning specialist
* Security of a high-quality server that
resides behind your firewall
* On-going technical support
* Student Benefits
With the Makau Learning Appliance, employees enjoy a variety of
eLearning benefits. Once set-up as a
user, students can easily access all the
courses relevant to their needs. Courses
include:
Students can learn
at their own pace anytime, anywhere, and
because the material is offered in small
modules, they can save
time by learning only
what is most important to them.
Note.
Simple
course additions, updates, and reporting
functions help (administrators) manage
and monitor student
progress.
Course Options
With several packages available, a
person can choose a training program
that meets their own specific needs,
courses such as: Microsoft Office,
Novell GroupWise, and Adobe InDesign, for example. The “Works Suite”
is a comprehensive set that incorporates the Wakau “Productivity Suite”
along with IT certification, software
development, and professional development courses, giving you more than
three hundred course modules. Other
“Suites” are available to meet specific
needs in professional development,
Linux implementation, medical certification, and other areas. Makau’s dedication to being your training partner
also ensures on-going technical support
in various packages.
Bottom Line
I don’t believe I am alone in this
world in having those initial “fears” of
getting started in something brand new,
Page 14
Blue Chips Magazine —June 2005
in computing
especially,
while getting
“razed” at the
same time in
so doing. Left
on their own,
some simply
will
never
even make
the effort, let
alone “TRY.”
If this review
has helped
even one (1)
person
to
overcome
those fears
and launch
right
into
something
as daunting
as learning
Linux,
or
Windows, or
anything, then
it’s been darn
well worth it.
And, to make
that journey a
little bit easier
and more enjoyable, give
Makau
a
“TRY.” They
can put you
in control of
your ongoing
self-training,
all the while, making your training easy
to implement and manage, really simple,
cost-effective, and most especially, enjoyable to work at and with.
It has been said, “It’s always an adventure learning something new.” Can’t
say I didn’t tell you where to go to lick
your chops getting that better education? “Sic’m Tiger!” Thanks Makau ;-}
Ciao
Meeting Memoranda
Candids of
May
Meeting
Featuring
Gene
Barlow
Page 15
Blue Chips Magazine —June 2005
Utah Blue Chips Calendar
June, July, 2005
UBC
General Meeting
U of U
7:00 p.m.
Favorite
Websites
U of U
7:00pm
Magazine
Deadline
UCS
Board of
Trustees
C&C Bldg.
Room
N3005
6:30 p.m.
UBC
General Meeting
U of U
7:00 p.m.
PICNIC
Blue Chips — Utah’s Computer Guide in the 21st Century