It's All Geek To Me - January 5th 2005

KISS 2005 Computer Checklist by Ross Lasley About this time every year people start asking me the question – how do I make sure that everything stays “fine” with my computer this year? In 2004 we saw a dramatic increase in things that are actually dangerous (viruses) and thing that are annoying (spyware, etc). The practical advice has been the same for a long time, though, and if you follow this handy dandy checklist everything will be fine.

5 Simple steps to make sure everything stays
happy with your machine in 2005:

1. Your Account List

Take a piece of paper and a pen – ancient technology – and write down your critical account info. This includes all of your user names and passwords as well as any critical account settings (like your email server). I know – I can almost hear the security experts turning red with rage – but this advice is for real people who have trouble memorizing things. Hide the paper well: if someone gets access to it, it is just like they stole your wallet. This document gives you the basic info you need to get things back up and running if stuff brain farts.

2. Backup

The greatest danger your computer faces today is the same one it has faced for a long time – you and your coffee. There are still more people who destroy data with a good old fashion mistake than anything else. There are lots of ways to backup your system – tape, CD burners, online hard drives, etc – but everyone has the same basic problem with backups: actually doing it regularly. You should decide how often to backup based on your work production – is a weeks' worth of work a lot? Backup weekly. Does losing a day of work scare you? Every night then. Once you decide on a backup schedule, you should make some unavoidable reminders for yourself, be it on your calendar or a stack of 52 (one for each week) candies - do whatever it takes to make it work.

3. Update

If you didn't do it right the first time, try try again – this is the motto of most software companies. If it isn't updated it can be a big problem. You should update your software regularly. Make a list of the sites/software you should check once a month; most of them will start with: http://www.windowsupdate.com

4. Firewall

You need some sort of system that protects your machine from the outside world. The best bet is hardware firewall, often an inexpensive item. If you don't want to go that route ,get a software based firewall – everyone loves Zone Alarm. It was featured in our last issue and can be found here.

5. The Anti Programs (Virus, Spam, Spyware)

Isn't it strange you need software that has the job of removing things other software is designed to deliver? At this point you should have an anti-virus program that you update (aka step 3 of our checklist) and run regularly. The big ones are Norton, McAfee, and CA – but just so you have absolutely no excuse, here is a great one that is free: http://www.avast.com

Anti-Spam is now a requirement; life without it will wear out your delete key prematurely (kidding). Again there is a huge selection, but mostly you just want to be sure to run something. Spyware makes your system run s-l-o-w, which can get very annoying. My personal favorite spyware killer is Ad-Aware. Joe is a fan of Spybot.

Follow this checklist and you can count on Murphy's law: nothing will go wrong with your computer in 2005.

Guide to Open Source, Part One by Michael McGrath I've mentioned in past columns that I have no Microsoft products on my computers here at KISS and at home. My operating system of choice is Linux. No Microsoft products will work on this operating system unless I use a particular program that enables a “virtual” Windows desktop. I have referred to my system as “open source” based, but it occurs to me I've never told you exactly what that means.

The answer to that question, though, is too long for a single column, and even too long for a couple of columns. I've decided, therefore, to devote a periodic discussion of the open source concept and its practical application both in the workplace and at home for personal use.

I begin, then, with a definition of open source. You'll find it here, and I'll let you read it yourself.

Open-source software is required to have its source code freely available; end users have the right to customize and redistribute it, as well as the right to package and sell the software. What is source code, you might ask? Well, at the top of your browser, probably Internet Explorer, draw down the View menu and select View Source. That gobbledy-gook of letters, numbers and <>, # and $ stuff is the source code for the page you have open in your browser. The code was written to create the page you are displaying in your browser; your browser is a piece of software that compiles that code and renders it into the display you are seeing. Software programs are designed and built so that you don't have to understand the code . . . . you simply have to click on a word or an icon and the code behind the scenes sends those kinds of instructions for you.

With me so far? Okay, let me muddy the water just a little. Despite apparent similarities, open-source software is distinct from free software. The Free Software Foundation's free software definition is more restrictive than the Open Source Definition, and as a consequence, free software is open source, but open-source software may or may not be “free.” We'll talk about this more as this series of columns develops.

The open source movement is a large assembly of programmers and other computer users across the world that advocates unrestricted access to the source code of software. It grew out of the world-wide access to Unix source code at universities, and is also founded in the hacker culture, to be honest. Mostly, the Free Software movement is based upon political and philosophical ideals, while open source proponents tend to focus more on pragmatic arguments.

Open source development methodology proponents clearly feel that it is superior to the closed source (Microsoft, for example) method. Stability, reliability and security are frequently cited as reasons to support open source over proprietary software. The most visible and successful example of the open source model is the Linux operating system, which is well known for its stability and security.

All of this is fancy sounding, I know, but what does “the open source movement” mean in everyday life? Well, we at KISS are vigorous advocates of the open source movement. I am one of the computer users that participates in the open source community methodology of software development. I regularly volunteer to “test” beta releases of new software for purposes of reporting bugs, or flaws, in the programs. I'm not a programmer, so that's as far as my contribution can go, but I report those flaws to the programmers during that beta testing as my part of the process. Those programmers, in turn, fix the bugs I report, and the end result is a community-based development of software that has been thoroughly tested before its formal release to the world.

So, where are those open source programs released? One place, probably the largest in the world, is a site called SourceForge.net. It has one of the, if not the, largest repositories of open source code and programs available on the internet. You'll find applications at SourceForge.net for just about any function you can imagine, and every application is free for downloading, as is its source code. In keeping with the open source concept and definition, one is free to modify that source code for one's own use or to redistribute it (add some feature you think would be really neat or cool or useful that it does not presently include) to others. Go to SourceForge.net for a list of the most recently added open source (free) applications, fully functioning right now, ready to use or to modify for your particular business needs.

I hope this has not put you to sleep. In the previous issue of IAGTM, Ross discussed a long list of free software, some of which are open source. Those applications were developed just as I have described the open source methodology to be, with beta testing and bug reports and community-based participation. I thought you might want to know a little about where they came from and how they come to be free.

In later columns on the Open Source Community, I intend to provide more detail on this subject, as well as the desirability of converting your system either at work or at home to open source concepts and applications. How much did you pay for Windows XP? How's it working for you? How many times has it crashed or frozen? How many security alerts have you had to respond to about it? Getting your money's worth? I use a GNU/Linux operating system called Debian; it was free, as is all of the software I use (some of it on the list Ross gave you last issue), and it has not crashed on me either here or at home since I began using it in September of 2003. There are some members of the GNU/Linux newsgroup I subscribe to who have had it running continuously (24/7) for nearly seven months without a single freeze or crash. Imagine that.

In the February installment on Open Source, I'm going to offer you a free operating system and free software on a CD. To receive this, all you have to do is read the column. How's that for a deal?