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First impressions: Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper

Dave Farquhar security, Windows June 22, 2011antivirus, AOL, apple, Bit Defender, malware, PE, Standalone System Sweeper, Windows XP

Microsoft has released an antivirus/antispyware live CD that runs in the Windows PE environment called Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper. I wouldn’t use it as a full replacement for a Linux-based live CD from an antivirus vendor such as Bit Defender, which I’ve written about before. It is, however, a good supplement–a second opinion. Nothing catches everything, after all.

The idea behind all of these is to boot into a sterile environment to scan a dormant hard drive for things that evade or disable your normal antivirus software. The need for this grows just about every day, as there’s a lot of really nasty stuff out there these days. It’s not a substitute for normal antivirus software–it’s what you call on if and when normal antivirus software fails and a malware infestation prevents normal use of the computer.

Removing the Windows XP Repair scareware

Dave Farquhar security, Windows June 21, 2011antimalware, antivirus, Bit Defender, CA, firefox, firewall, malware, Microsoft Security Essentials, Open Office, oracle, Standalone System Sweeper, Windows XP

Windows XP Repair is a fake system optimization and repair tool. It takes over the computer almost completely, and it’s a pain to remove. Worse yet, there’s at least one version floating around right now that standard no antivirus/antimalware tool I threw at it recognized.

Here’s how I removed it for someone.

How young is too young for a credit card?

Dave Farquhar Saving money June 20, 2011April 15, 20171990s, discipline, Discover Card, interest rates, minimum payment, Missouri

MSNBC columnist (and one of my former college instructors) Bob Sullivan asked an interesting question last week. How young is too young for a credit card?

I think the credit industry used to draw the line somewhere around age 19 or 20. But things changed a lot in the 1990s.
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Analysis: Samsung “green” memory

Dave Farquhar Hardware, Saving money June 19, 2011June 19, 2011amd, Blade, intel, kingston, KWH, Micro Center, Missouri, samsung

I was at Micro Center today, picking up CD jewel cases and USB flash memory and a cheap USB game pad. And to buy a little extra time–I had one son with me and the other was home napping–I wandered around. In the memory aisle, I spotted some Samsung “green” memory. Manufactured with a 40nm process instead of the usual 60nm process, the modules are 2/3 the size of conventional modules, run cooler, and use up to 47% less power.

Is it worth paying extra for? As always, it depends.

On being a dad

Dave Farquhar Parenting, Personal June 18, 2011July 31, 2011train layout, train table

Jeff Pearlman has a Father’s Day sermon. He doesn’t hold back. And he has a point.

I’ve got no room to preach. But I guess I can talk about being a dad.

Dark ages of security, or golden age of hacking?

Dave Farquhar security June 17, 2011April 17, 2017Bill Gates, costco, passwords, playstation, sony, unix, vulnerability

Earlier this week, Rob O’Hara argued that hackers, in spite of the publicity they get, aren’t necessarily sophisticated at all.

Details of the Citigroup hack prove it.
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Can’t get system restore to run? Force it.

Dave Farquhar Windows June 16, 2011December 4, 2015Click Next, command prompt, old school, Task Manager

If your computer brings up a window every time you click on a program’s icon asking what you want to open it with, there’s a not-so-obvious way out.

Ve hev vays to get a command prompt when executable files won’t run normally. And from there, you can run anything you want, old school DOS-style.

How to decide if a computer upgrade will pay for itself in power savings

Dave Farquhar Hardware, Saving money June 15, 2011April 17, 2017amd, intel, Intel Atom, KWH, Micro Center, Missouri, phenom, power savings

I occasionally read an offhand comment where someone says he or she just bought a new computer, and the new computer is so much more power efficient than the old one, it’s going to pay for itself.

I wonder if they did the math, or if that’s what the salesperson told them. Because while I can see circumstances where that assertion would be true, but it typically would involve extremes, like replacing an aged Pentium 4 computer with, well, a netbook. They probably didn’t do that.

Part of the reason I got into computers professionally was because I was tired of hearing lies from salespeople and technicians. So let’s just take a look at this claim.
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Farquhar discovers power-sipping AMD Fusion motherboards

Dave Farquhar Hardware June 14, 20111980s, 1990s, amd, asus, intel, micro atx, Micro Center, pcie, VGA

AMD just announced its next-generation Fusion CPU/GPU combo. I’m not quite comfortable with AMD’s APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) moniker, because CPU-GPU integration isn’t about speed so much as it’s about reducing price and power consumption. This version of Fusion is intended to compete with mainstream Intel CPUs. Pricing isn’t available yet.

And that reminded me to go look and see what’s going on with first-generation AMD Fusion motherboards. I’m not so much interested in Fusion as a netbook/low-end notebook solution as I am for a power-sipping PC. Looking at the reviews online, it looks like I’m not alone in that. I don’t think I can afford to run multiple 750-watt fire-breathing dragons at home, and I don’t think I’m the only one. Give me a cool, quiet PC that doesn’t get bogged down in Visio, and I’m happy.
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Mazzarro: A never-give-up story

Dave Farquhar Baseball June 13, 2011June 13, 2011california angels, cleveland indians, Kansas City, kansas city royals, Major League

Last night, Vin Mazzarro pitched 7 shutout innings for the Kansas City Royals.

Normally, that’s not exactly news. Seven shutout innings is commendable, but it’s 9 innings (a complete game) that makes it newsworthy. And maybe that’s why not a lot of people noticed it.