Security

You may have heard from people that the best way to keep your computer secure from malicious software is to buy a heavy (and expensive) anti-virus software package, along with an anti-spyware program.  Run these two programs every month or so.  You might have been told that doing this is a good practice.

Wrong!

Several programmer friends of mine, including several authoritative security forums (Wilders Security Forums and Tom’s Hardware), stress that one of the best defenses against malicious attacks is good old common sense.

Most viruses are picked up via download, so good sense says that you should be wary of downloading anything that isn’t coming from a reputable site.  If you don’t know what it is, don’t ever download it.

My own personal practice is that I never download anything unless I go to get it myself (so if I’m offered anything while I’m browsing, I refuse).  What do you do if you clicked an “OK” button, remembered that you shouldn’t have done that, and now something is downloading and you can’t stop it?  Press Control-Alt-Delete, open the Processes Tab, and shut down your web browser (iexplore.exe for Internet Explorer, firefox.exe for Firefox, chrome.exe for Google Chrome).  If a download is still occurring, then press and hold the power button of your computer until it turns off.  Reboot your computer and scan it with your security programs.

However, new viruses are made every day and spyware is getting better and better.  So, for all things outside of best web browsing practices, you will need security programs.  Not to worry, though.  All that you need can be attained for free and comes highly recommended by the pros at CNET.com and Wilders Security Forums.

Here’s a list of what type of protection I use and the program(s) to accomplish each type:

Anti-Virus – Avira Anti-Virus Free Edition

Avira Anti-Virus

This is an excellent free anti-virus program.  It leaves a smaller footprint than AVG or Avast which means that the program consumes less of your computer’s resources.  CNET.com has rated this the best free anti-virus program as of September 2009.  It even ranks higher in consumer reports than many pay-to-use programs.

You can schedule daily definition updates and virus scans (I make mine once a week).  This is the only security program that I have set to automatically startup when I turn my computer on, and it stays on the entire time.  If you can put up with an ad every time an update/scan is run then this is definitely a must-have for your security suite.

Anti-Malware – Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, SUPERAnti-Spyware ( , Iobit Security 360)

I’m using “Malware” as a term that encompasses spyware, rootkits, and any other malicious software.  The important thing to remember is that no single anti-malware program will catch everything in one go.  There are several very good programs are aimed at specific types of attacks (such as trojans or rootkits), but these are considered innefficient because they miss a great amount of differing types of attacks.  Alternately, most of the popular software today is focused on overall, general protection, and they are prone to miss the very subtle attacks that type-specific programs catch.  To remedy this, I use a variety of anti-malware programs run in sequence after each other.  I like to picture this like a net being pulled through the water multiple times to get all the filth out of it.

They do not run in the background, however.  I manually start, update, and scan my computer with them every couple weeks.  Then I turn them off.

Malwarebytes has held one of the leading free anti-malware software titles for a long time.  Their updates are even able to handle viruses and spyware that pay programs like Webroot Spysweeper miss.

SUPERAnti-Spyware is another year-after-year top performer in the free anti-spyware department.  Well worth the download.

Iobit Security 360 just came out a few months ago, and it’s download count on CNET.com is already extremely high.  I’ve ran a couple scans and the depth of customization in searching for malware suggests an incredible thoroughness.  It also has a nifty array of additional features such as system maintenance functions (a free version of Advanced System Care 3).

Iobit Security 360

However, I’ve only been using it for a week, and I don’t feel right suggesting it as a permanent addition to my Security Suite until I have used it a bit more.

Firewall – Comodo Firewall

Considered by CNET experts to be the top of the line in free firewalls.  The free version of this firewall is powerful and meticulously vigilant.  It is so sensitive that I stopped using it.  I’m sure that you can adjust the sensitivity level for incoming/outcoming items, I just feel that Windows Firewall and/or Windows Defender are sufficient for firewall protection.  Windows Firewall comes standard with Windows XP, but Windows Vista has both Firewall and Defender.

Encryption – TrueCrypt

This free software makes encrypting drives, partitions, external drives (including jump drives) a simple process while maintaining a good amount of cryptographic strength.  This is the type of encryption that the Government uses for up to Top Secret classification.  I mainly use this for securing my backup partitions from possible infiltration by malicious software or in case I lose my jump drive somewhere.

So, with these programs at your disposal (and all completely free!) and using best practices and good sense when browsing the web, you should never have problems with security again!  Well, at least for the next few years until those damn hackers get so good that they can break into our minds directly..

“That’s a nice processer, sir.  This motherboard is has crossfire support and it supports a max of 16 GB memory?  Outrageous!”

I couldn’t stop myself from pricing out the cost of building an entire PC from scratch.  Sifting through a handful of “Best *computer part here* for the money” articles on Tom’s Hardware, I put together a rocking system for 525.00.  In my dreams, I know.

Just the upgrade, however, is 250.00 – processor, motherboard, and memory.  Still too much for us, I know.  Truthfully, I would rather like a nice vacation than a computer that is more powerful.  That, ultimately is why I won’t be upgrading just yet.

But I do get a techie reprieve!  A friend of mine told me about an upcoming Microsoft release “party” here, in St. Louis.  I’ve registered.  Throughout the 4 hour presentation, Microsoft will be displaying the features of their new operating system – Windows 7.

Here’s the good part: at the end of the event, everyone will get a copy of Windows 7 – for free!  That’s right – a 300.00+ valued software for just showing up!

See how it's all shiny...

I think that I the excitement of this can keep my upgrade-mania at bay.  Thank you Microsoft!

A coworker at WWT has been slowly showing me how to use Visio and Powerpoint.  Just the other day I learned how to draw flow charts with Powerpoint’s auto-shapes.

This is easier than it sounds.  You format the powerpoint slide for 17×11 with the anticipation of copying it to a JPEG as a picture.  Now, you have a bigger canvas to work with for long, horizontal charts.

Flow Chart City!

For this example, I was then going to insert the JPEG, as a file, into a word document.  However, I felt that it looks too squished in a regular 8×11 format.  My coworker suggested a simple section break and set the page with the JPEG into Landscape format.

Presto – a nice graphic (woohoo for my first ever flow chart!) in a Word document.

How much is too much?

when we’re not talking about what the client sees?  I was talking with a developer friend at work today and learned that all the software changes and developments are meant to be for the use and benefit of the company.  The software is for us – to make the business run better –  and not on a track to be sold off to customers.

Then we started talking about documentation.  If it was not needed for clients or customers, then why worry about it at all?  Just as the software-in-development will be bringing us into a more efficient operation, proper documentation will be making clear to each other the change, news, and updates of which various levels of the company need to be aware.

The more accurate my communication via documentation or verbal understanding: the better I can facilitate a unified awareness of all the operations that I’m learning to any WWT employee, at any level.

The developers were required to do some of their own documentation, but it was mostly an obligatory procedure thing.  He described the internal documentation as “poorly done.”  I’m more than happy to meld together my inclination to organize and my pleasure at understanding how a new process works.  When conveying these things together, I think that I can continue to develop an essential part of technical communication.

However, my manager brought up a good point the other day when he mentioned that people just don’t want text anymore.  They want visuals.  Text and visuals.  Tom Johnson, in his blog, continually comes back to the idea that technical communicators need to move forward into a  world of blogging, podcasts, videocasts, and social networking applications.

Perhaps, as I learn more about the company, I can find ways to come to a medium that utilizes the two in tandem.

Along with goals from multiple sub-groups within Governance (including Enterprise Architecture and Service Contracts), I will be jumping right into documentation tasks.  The department is developing process and procedure standards for the company’s software, contract, and operational needs.

This is a great opportunity not only for a chance to grow in my skills and contribute to an increasingly successful company but also to really explore ways to include technical communication into any task that I’m working on.

That’s the great thing about communication.  It’s like the Force: All around us and in all things (Don’t judge! I need my Star Wars fix for the day :P).   Whether I’m writing a step-by-step checklist, speaking to members of different IT departments about changes and methods, or preparing documentation for multiple skill-level users (such as IT professionals versus sales executives), it all centers around effective communication. I’m not exactly sure how interactive the position will be, but I’m excited to find and use new avenues.

My first day will probably be this Monday.  Samantha and I are going out to celebrate!  I think a pint is in order.

A group that I’ve been a part of for the last year – the St. Louis Writer’s Meetup – is self-publishing an anthology of short stories.  The stories are limited to fiction and 9,000 words (or thereabouts). Rough draft deadline is next month, and the revision deadline will be in September.  A panel of editors has been selected that will revise our stories, and we’ll get the format put together through Lulu.com, a print-on-demand website that the group used for their last anthology.

Mike Beckett, keeper of the spreadsheets, was around to help organize the publishing last time.  It took two years from start to finish for their book to finally hit the shelves of Amazon.  He thinks that we can do it in one year or less, this time.

So, I’m excited about making my contribution and seeing my first work published for the public!  I’d been developing an idea before I dove headlong into the business side of communication, and lately I’d worried that the creative fire of the story had died out in me.

It seemed that way at first.  I trudged through the first day, working out the rough draft.  I didn’t get far, and I felt like I just couldn’t write what I wanted to.  I have so many themes and motifs that I want to include.  Also, I’m trying allegorical characters and my own style of limited, omniscient point-of-view.  I’m tending to write in-character for my main guy, and then stray out to a wider god-like reflection.  Normally, writing like this is considered a “mistake”, and editors and critics suggest making the perspective more uniform, yet I disagree, and I know that I can find a perfect fit for the deviation.  At least, I hope to in this piece.

So, anyway, the muse did not visit on my first day.  I was too overwhelmed with my planning and intentions which left me feeling like I wasn’t accomplishing anything.  On the next day, I threw caution to the wind and started writing furiously.  That’s when he showed up!  I’m more than halfway through the rough draft and I think that I can finish today (cross my fingers that he returns again!)

Surprisingly, I found that all the themes and symbolism I wanted to include managed to subconsciously work their way into the story without my direct intervention.  I can see the threads of structure there, ready to be pulled at different moments of the story.  It’s really an amazing thing when the creative process begins to flow.  I’m positive that it’s a reflection of something much more grand and mysterious that can be found inside everyone.

We just need to learn how to tap into it.

The book, is an everything-you’d-ever-want-to-know about creating, producing, and developing your own podcast.  An amazing read!  It’s aimed towards the everyday person, and Cochrane frequently emphasizes how podcasting is a grassroots kind of audio-media movement.

Compare it with the corporate radio stations who require legality, procedure, and bureaucratic-style operations.  The heart of podcasting seeks to eliminate this and return to just everyday people using common tools in the place of their choosing.  I’ve made my own podcast with open-source software, a 5 dollar mic/headphone assembly, and some time (and moderate editing – c’mon, I’m a newb. ).

The podcast is actually for the UMSL newspaper, and I’m submitting it to them as an example of what I’d like to do each week.  You’ll be hearing their thoughts when i hear back from them.  If they choose not to use it on the website, I think I may just continue it myself here on Technical Forge.  I’ve decided to go ahead and purchas a domain and web space so that I can start putting up HD video and audio.

Site of the future UMSL Podcast?

At a staff meeting today for The Current, University of Missouri-St. Louis student newspaper, I suggested to the editors that we create a Technology section head in the printed editions.  This would be my responsibility, and I have some big ideas!  I want to be updating students on current technological events.  Our Arts and Entertainment editor already does a weekly Science column (and incredibly well) that covers a lot of current events in biology and chemistry.  However, it doesn’t really follow the technological trends like: Software development and updates, Apple and Microsoft progress, or Industry benchmarks.

The idea was well received, and if it is put into effect then I’ll have greater work cut out for me in the online edition of the paper.  That’s where I really want to break some new ground.  I’d like to start doing podcasts.  I’m sending emails to the IT supervisor, over on the other side of the campus.  I know the man – I actually had an interview with him when I first started at UMSL.  Although I didn’t take the job, we’ve spoken a few times.  I’m going to see if he’d be interested in talking with me on a few podcasts concerning technology related to the students and the university.

This has huge potential, I think.  Many of the other editors were getting excited about the using podcasts.  The editor-in-chief is interested in having audio players on the website for music, and the A&E editor would like to be able to work together with me to do Science podcasts when she’s interviewing for her stories.  The site designer was happy because the web format is all set up for that type of media, but no-one’s made much use of it until now.

I’d also like to talk with the people at the University radio about how we can get some good equipment on lease (or just plain “borrowed”) for the recordings.  KWMU, the NPR affiliate for St. Louis, broadcasts out of the lower-level English Communication building on the UMSL campus.  It might be too large a dream to make inquiries about getting in there to record.

Either way, there’s lots of fun stuff on the horizon for me and for the student newspaper.  You may soon be hearing from The Current via podcast!

Juice, cross-platform Podcast receiver

All right!  After an hour of tinkering, I finished a short guide on how to install Juice.  I used SnagIt.  It took a while to get all the screen captures and dialogue boxes the way I wanted them.  However, I don’t think it would normally take this long because most of the time spent was fidgeting with stylization.  I kept adjusting the way the information looked, but now, having figured out how I like this kind of tutorial to look, I think I can make another guide in half the time.

But the great thing about technical writing is that a finished style is never realized!  There will always be new creative ways for me to communicate, display graphics, and present information.  A person could spend hours (and some do) changing their theme, their icons, their backgrounds, and content.  We’ve seen the rise of personalization when Myspace hit it big.  Easy-to-use website creators are becoming more popular as amateur web designers experiment with deeper levels of customization.  I suppose the key, as in all things, is learning to keep a balance.  I can be creative and develop style but not at the cost of productivity in the workplace.

I feel that this allows me to get my feet wet with new concepts and new directions, and I can maintains my value as a beneficial member of a production team.

On another note, it turns out that Photobucket doesn’t allow .pdf file uploads.  Not to worry, though – Google Docs comes to the rescue.  Their online storage is like Photobucket for documents.  Plus, my info from gmail instantly syncronizes so that I don’t have to deal with any form-filling or more email spam.  Man, I love those guys.

Edit:  Scratch Google Docs as far as public viewable file-storage goes.  The link only works for me, and I neglected to log out of my gmail account before I checked it.  After some searching, I decided to go with Scribd.

There’s no sound, so I’ve been troubleshooting the non-functioning mic.  I also had to fiddle with the filetype settings.  Camtasia uses two types: .camrec and .avi.

.camrec is a unique, Camtasia file.  I snooped around online for a converter program with no luck.  However, the other type is .avi.  It’s a more user-friendly type, and it works in Windows Media Player.

This program is very cool!  I love the idea of being able to create help scenarios for problems and record solutions.  I sent my wife the first one, and I think I’ll make a few more just for fun.

Gmail won’t attach files that big (around 5-7 MB for a short video), so I opened my own account on youtube, and I’ll just upload there and link to it.  There’s also custom space at Camtasia’s own video hosting site, screencast.com, that I could have used.  I just didn’t feel like registering the product, and youtube seems more user-friendly.