Thu 19 Jul 2007
So last week one of those little notices about updates for Norton Anti-Virus pops up on my office computer screen (at home) and of course I click on the box that says, “Well, hell, yeah!” The program goes through its process, downloading all these fine improvement to my computer’s security, reboots and there it is: No Internet. WTF, I’m sort of baffled, I try this and that, no Internet. I try a couple of other things — these are fairly primitive solutions, you understand — and still no Internet. Obviously, or it seems obvious to me, in downloading these Norton updates a setting has been disabled. Do I know how to fix this? Is Hannah Montana likely to be elected president? Actually, Hannah Montana is more likely to be elected president than, say, Courtney Love. Or maybe Hillary Clinton.
Anyway, as monumentally annoying as this problem was (and still is), I knew I could turn to my four-month old laptop computer and turn out copy and post it to the Internet (despite some other insanely irritating Internet problems we’ve been having since January when Comcast took over), because we have WiFi at our house, so I wrote a “Refrigerator Door” page of inexpensive wines for my website and posted it a few minutes ago. There are wines from California, Australia, Spain, Argentina and Portugal. You’ll find them at www.KoeppelOnWine.com/Refrigerator_Door_Wines.asp
You will notice, however, that there’s no label art on the page, even though I’m a fanatic about using lots of art on the website and on this blog, because I can’t stand those websites and blogs that consist of miles and miles of gray print with nothing to relieve the monotony. Anyway, the reason why there’s no art on this new page on KoeppelOnWine (or on this post) is because, even though a few days ago I paid for and downloaded to my laptop the CoffeeCup PixConverter (a simple image-sizing device that I use on my office computer all the time), it didn’t show up. It ain’t there. Nada. So there’s another computer problem with which I have to deal very soon.
Aaaarrrrgggghhhhh.
July 20th, 2007 at 8:45 am
Norton tends to muck up systems. McAfee too, but less often. If you’re already behind an ISP firewall, you really don’t need them. Like Bush and Cheney, these companies Traffick in Your Fear.
July 20th, 2007 at 9:36 am
Have a glass of wine and call a computer guy to fix the problems…I think you can download again your PixConverter talk with them.
I would like a world without any problems, technicals at least, where when you buy something it will not break were the lines are always up as well as the electricity. I would love pipes that don’t break and avoid the thought of a volcano in the middle of Manhattan…
Buona Bevuta a Tutti
http://www.de-vino.blogspot.com
July 22nd, 2007 at 12:19 am
I cannot agree with Mr. Hughes that if one is behind an ISP firewall that one doesn’t need an antivirus program. In the first place, most ISPs don’t provide a built-in firewall that would provide the same functionality as a good desktop firewall, though they might provide a free or discounted one to their customers. Even behind such a firewall, one still needs an antivirus program. Firewalls are not meant to detect or block viruses. They are designed to prevent unauthorized network intrusion into a system or private network. It is still entirely possible to acquire a virus or some other malware by unwittingly opening an infected email or visiting a malicious web page. I do agree with him, however, that Norton and McAfee (especially Norton) will muck up one’s system. Norton, at least, is also very resource intensive—it’s a hog. I recommend removing every trace of Norton and McAfee from one’s system—unfortunately not always easy to do, since the uninstallers often leave bits and pieces of the débris lying about in one’s registry and file system, to remove which additional measures must be taken. I would suggest instead NOD32 (http://www.eset.com/), which is lightweight and effective.
August 11th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
People ask me how could we survive without computers and cell phones. I always say, we did just fine before all the techno crap was even out there!!!!!
You are now leaving the wine dimension and entering the hard liquor dimension or Pritchard Tennessee Bourbon.
Computers are like cars. It takes more than putting gas in to take care of a car, and it takes more than turning it on to take care of a computer.
Your computer should have some diagnostics program to run to see what the problem is.
Personally I prefer Norton to McAfee. McAfee lets too much slip by, and it doesn’t update quick enough to suit me.
Actually Consumer Reports rated Trend Micro and Check Point better than the other protections, and they are both 20-30 cheaper than Norton or McAfee.
Then there is always the free one, Avast/Alwil. The fee one saves (depending on the product) 50-70-90 a year and that can really add up. Three years at 70 can pay for a major repair.