HTCC Episodic

The latest CyberCoyote newsletter is now online. Before you go there to read it, take notice of this link to a website I'm going to tell you about there. (I'm putting the link here to respect the fact that it has not been announced publicly yet.)

The site: http://www.coolhotnot.com/

Our newsletter: http://cybercoyote.org/news/090219.shtml

CyberCoyote - February 12, 2009

2009-02-12T17:46:00.001-07:00

The latest CyberCoyote newsletter is now Online.

http://cybercoyote.org/news/090212.shtml

Moving to Windows 7

2009-02-10T15:10:00.003-07:00

I didn't expect to be writing this so soon after my previous Windows 7 post, but things change. :-) My long term plan has been to skip Windows Vista and move to whatever came after that. Of course that turned out to be Windows 7. Microsoft took what they learned from their stumbles with Vista and applied it to Windows 7. It's turned out to be a good plan for me if not for them.
I decided to install the beta release of Windows 7 on this old Windows XP machine. It's five years old, and doesn't have the graphics to run all the visual effects, but 7 runs just as quickly and crisply on it as XP ever did. And 7 is a delight to use. I didn't think Windows 7 would even install on this old PC, but it runs so well I've switched over completely. The only problem, this beta release expires on the first of August.
Improved native security is one of the things I like best about Windows 7. You can run 7 as a "Standard User", which means malware can't intrude like it could if you ran as an Administrator. It's just not practical to run Windows XP with lowered rights, but it's easy with Windows 7. It's also easier than with Windows Vista. The net result is that Sunbelt Software's VIPRE is the only major security software that I'm using for my revised security setup.
Updated the expiration date.

CyberCoyote – February 5, 2009

2009-02-05T19:18:00.001-07:00

The latest CyberCoyote newsletter is now Online.

http://cybercoyote.org/news/090205.shtml

Waiting for Windows 7

2009-02-04T18:03:00.001-07:00

It's most likely that Windows 7 will be available around September, 2009. The current beta release is getting strongly positive reviews. I'm eagerly waiting to leapfrog Vista and go from Windows XP to 7. Those of you who are already using Vista should have little or no trouble moving to Windows 7. One flap has come up though.

Microsoft is arguing that a problem that testers have found with User Access Control (UAC) is not a problem. It plainly is, but it's not a fatal flaw, or even close. Not if you run Windows 7 the way any security conscious user would, namely as a "Standard User", not as an "Administrator". You can likely manage Windows 7 security the same way you would manage "Security with Vista". That's not how Windows 7 is set up "at the factory" however. You need to change it yourself.

My journal for Windows 7