Stephen Wolfram, maker of Mathematica, has created a tool that is a milestone that harnesses vast amounts of data and makes it easily "computeable" from basic English questions.
I can see this as being like the launch day of Google, the next step in information harnessing. It has huge potential in science and general data research/analysis.
Below is a quick 13 minute walkthrough if this new tool. If you don't know about the Wolfram search engine, this is a MUST watch.
I will guess Google will crush him in due time.
The search engine launches TODAY, May 15th, 2009
http://www.wolframalpha.com/index.html
Friday, May 15, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Virus Protection and fixing
Assuming your system does NOT have a virus infection, but you are looking to protect your Windows PC, below are the three programs I recommend to ensure full protection.
Protect your system
1) AVG Virus Scanner - Free Edition , you can pay for the premium edition, but the basic should be fine. This program protects from Viruses, but not malware or trojan horses.
2) Spybot or Defender
Spybot Search and Destroy - Protects your Windows PC from malware or trojan horses. Has real-time protection. Unfortunately it is a bit chatty, and the end user may be confused by the pop-ups. Lesser protection, but easier for end users is:
MicroSoft Defender - Protects your Windows PC from malware or trojan horses. Seems less diligent than Spybot at protecting your system, but significantly less chatty. Good for people easily confused by tech.
Also I STRONGLY recommend not using MicroSoft internet explorer for web browsing, instead use FireFox. In addition, do NOT use Microsoft outlook, use Gmail. Gmail can get your "pop3" or normal email from your ISP provider.
NOTE: I am eager to switch from AVG to ClamWin, when Clamwin supports real-time virus protection.
Already Infected? Traditional Steps to fix
So your infected eh? Not sure what you got?
I recommend skipping to 5 and create a boot disk. I'll blog how to do this in greater detail on another post.
Otherwise, the traditional assault list.
*NOTE* With some viruses this still may not get rid of it. Some viruses can hide on the hard drive after a format. To be 100% sure you are virus clean, toss the existing hard drive and install a new hard drive.
Protect your system
1) AVG Virus Scanner - Free Edition , you can pay for the premium edition, but the basic should be fine. This program protects from Viruses, but not malware or trojan horses.
2) Spybot or Defender
Spybot Search and Destroy - Protects your Windows PC from malware or trojan horses. Has real-time protection. Unfortunately it is a bit chatty, and the end user may be confused by the pop-ups. Lesser protection, but easier for end users is:
MicroSoft Defender - Protects your Windows PC from malware or trojan horses. Seems less diligent than Spybot at protecting your system, but significantly less chatty. Good for people easily confused by tech.
Also I STRONGLY recommend not using MicroSoft internet explorer for web browsing, instead use FireFox. In addition, do NOT use Microsoft outlook, use Gmail. Gmail can get your "pop3" or normal email from your ISP provider.
NOTE: I am eager to switch from AVG to ClamWin, when Clamwin supports real-time virus protection.
Already Infected? Traditional Steps to fix
So your infected eh? Not sure what you got?
I recommend skipping to 5 and create a boot disk. I'll blog how to do this in greater detail on another post.
Otherwise, the traditional assault list.
- Install Spybot and run.
Other utilities you can try is:
Ad Aware - Install virus scanner (AVG?) and run
Other utilities you can try is:
Trend MicroHousecall - Try to determine if infected. If unsure, go to web site and try to run online scanners. If you cannot run the online scanners, chances are your virus is blocking you.
TrendMicro Online scanner for virus, spyware, and malware *Firefox Friendly!
Kaspersky online scanner for virus & spyware
F-Secure online scanner for viruses only - Still screwed up? If your a Techie download and run HiJackThis! A tool that helps you identify where your problems are. See tuturial here, and site to help analyze logs here.
- Ready to throw in the towel? Time to get down and dirty. These are programs that create boot CD's to analyze your PC. This avoids booting an infected system, and thereby activating the virus/malware.
Ultimate Boot Disk for Windows - Absolutely the best Windows utility disk. And its FREE!.
F-Secure - Linux boot disk to find viruses
Avira - Linux boot disk to viruses and malware
Dr. Web Live CD - I haven't tried yet - The virus is gone, but windows was broken by step 5? Two programs to help. First it is important to have a windows Installation Disk that matches your Service Pack. To upgrade your older Windows XP Installation disk to Service Pack 3. Follow these directions on how to use a program called nLite to make your new Windows XP Installation CD.
Once you have a spanking new Installation CD, read up on how to run a repair installation.
If you need to boot windows from a CD, to copy off critical files before reinstalling windows, check out Ultimate Boot CD, based on Bart PE. UBCD llows you to take a windows CD and create a bootable windows CD, and auto-install a wide variety of utilities. Of course you need a working windows machine with a CD burner to do so. :) - The final step, the big one. If you STILL can't get rid of the virus and/or your machine is toast. Back up all data you can using BartPE or UBCD above. Once backed up, use windows installation disk to format the entire drive and do a clean installation of Windows XP.
*NOTE* With some viruses this still may not get rid of it. Some viruses can hide on the hard drive after a format. To be 100% sure you are virus clean, toss the existing hard drive and install a new hard drive.
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