I was a Windows "fanboy" for a very long time. Whenever I would use a Mac I was disgusted and annoyed, but some recent changes have happened. I got a "job" that required me to use Linux, specifically Ubuntu Linux. I did mess with Ubuntu a little before, but I was never able to make it my primary OS because of the lack on Windows programs. When I was required to use Ubuntu a lot for my "job" then I used Wine to run a few Windows apps, but I mostly learned how to use the native apps. Eventually I mainly used webapps and an IM client native to the OS. At that time I didn't really have any dependence on platform-specific software. I was able to learn the internals of Linux much better so I felt a lot more "at home".
A while after I was OS independent I wanted to do some video editing. I did have some experience with Final Cut Express so I didn't want to learn a Windows video editor on a project that I already had very little time to do. I obtained OS X and Final Cut Express and found it easy to go a few days without using Windows or Linux, but I did hate almost every minute of it. On Windows and Linux the keyboard shortcuts make sense, but on OS X they are much slower to use than on other OSes. It's not because I wasn't used to them, it's because they are illogical. To take a screenshot you don't push Print Screen; it's like Command+Shift+3. That's just one example, but there are many others just as painful.
But after all this experience I have found that when I do not have a specific goal I use Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu is a bit faster than Windows. Compiz Fusion is the main reason I like Ubuntu; I have no complaint of pretty graphics (and even a lot of useful features). Also I really like that it's a free OS; I don't need to pay $200 or $30 every few years. My only complaint is a lot of software works like it's free with quite a few bugs.
My Review of Google+ Plus
I was excited to try out Google+ with all the good things I was hearing about it from friends. They finally opened invitations yesterday. A friend invited me and I was overjoyed to see what all the clammer was about. Too bad my fun was ruined with this message:
Really Google? I'm 17 years old and you think I'm a little kid who can't handle Google+? So I did what every tech enthusiast would do; I found a friend with an account who is over 18 and got permission to use the account. I got the friend who sent me the invite to send one to the other account. I was excited when I got the invite. But that was short lived when I saw the usual message about being overcapacity.
My message to Google is: your invite system sucks really horribly and you should at least let high schoolers in without making them lie about their age. What's your target demographic? Facebook seems to consist of a lot of high schoolers.
This feature is not available for your account
You must be over a certain age to use this feature.
Really Google? I'm 17 years old and you think I'm a little kid who can't handle Google+? So I did what every tech enthusiast would do; I found a friend with an account who is over 18 and got permission to use the account. I got the friend who sent me the invite to send one to the other account. I was excited when I got the invite. But that was short lived when I saw the usual message about being overcapacity.
My message to Google is: your invite system sucks really horribly and you should at least let high schoolers in without making them lie about their age. What's your target demographic? Facebook seems to consist of a lot of high schoolers.
Can a Good Antivirus Be Free?
I work on computers for a hobby. A lot of the time I just need to remove a virus or speed up the computer. One of the things I find most annoying is when people have a virus, but they have an antivirus subscription that they paid for! Another annoyance I have is when people have an antivirus program that is slowing down the computer a lot and they wonder why the computer is slow.
The main antivirus programs I have seen that do almost nothing but take money are AVG and McAfee. My usual solution to a computer with AVG or McAfee with a virus is to install Microsoft Security Essentials for free and remove it that way. Then I strongly suggest to the user to uninstall the previous antivirus even though their subscription isn't done.
The other issue that's not so big is slow computers. The main antivirus that I've found to cause this is Norton. You might think it's a great deal that your ISP gives you a subscription to Norton that usually costs. The problem is Norton is such an inefficient antivirus that slows down computers a lot. I have found it to provide no more protection over high-quality free antivirus programs. Norton includes a firewall; that sounds like a great thing, but I have found no advantage of it over the built in Windows firewall. The only thing it does is slow down your computer and use up space. Do you expect the software developers at Symantic to know how the Windows network interface works better than the developers at Microsoft who integrated the firewall directly into the system?
Summary:
In my experience working on removing viruses from systems I have found Microsoft Security Essentials to be faster, easier to use, and better at the task of removing viruses than McAfee, AVG, Norton, and most other free and paid antivirus products.
In the world of antivirus programs paid does not mean better quality.
The main antivirus programs I have seen that do almost nothing but take money are AVG and McAfee. My usual solution to a computer with AVG or McAfee with a virus is to install Microsoft Security Essentials for free and remove it that way. Then I strongly suggest to the user to uninstall the previous antivirus even though their subscription isn't done.
The other issue that's not so big is slow computers. The main antivirus that I've found to cause this is Norton. You might think it's a great deal that your ISP gives you a subscription to Norton that usually costs. The problem is Norton is such an inefficient antivirus that slows down computers a lot. I have found it to provide no more protection over high-quality free antivirus programs. Norton includes a firewall; that sounds like a great thing, but I have found no advantage of it over the built in Windows firewall. The only thing it does is slow down your computer and use up space. Do you expect the software developers at Symantic to know how the Windows network interface works better than the developers at Microsoft who integrated the firewall directly into the system?
Summary:
In my experience working on removing viruses from systems I have found Microsoft Security Essentials to be faster, easier to use, and better at the task of removing viruses than McAfee, AVG, Norton, and most other free and paid antivirus products.
In the world of antivirus programs paid does not mean better quality.
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