Today, I was reminded of the arrogance of thinking that something is better than what it really is, and believe me I know this all too well. It's usually known as "Pride before the fall", well in this high tech day and age that can mean a very bad thing when it comes to computers thinking that you happen to have something out there that no one can match, after all even the mightiest of I.T. tech guys can suddenly have a panic when it comes to their systems because a virus had suddenly shown up.
This actually reminds me of something that I heard at a Best Buy once a few years back, when someone had asked a sales person about viruses and Apple computers, and in truth even their computers are subjected to computer viruses despite what they want the public to know. It's namely because the people at Apple are actually over confident that their computers will actually in truth never get harmed, so there are those people out there that create viruses just for the apple computer.
Now for me, and I happen to be a PC user since I can't stand the no mouse button Apples any more, I tend to go after anti-virus programs that happens to be best by word of mouth, not by their commercial value which these days isn't that good any more. That and there is a specific brand of computer that I will never get again (though at the current time I'm actually using the one I'm about to slam here, figure the irony in that). The computer system (either desktop of laptop) that I won't ever get (but currently have no choice to use) is a Dell, though don't get me wrong, Dells back in the day were great computers. However these days when it comes to their computer, they're really not worth it any more. I was telling a friend of mine this morning who was trying to advocate the use of Dells, that they're like the diskettes of old (the smaller ones), they got made in such an abundance that after a while the quality of the disks went so far down that you even walk a couple of steps and the data on the disks became corrupted. Dells are currently the same way, they had been made in such an abundance and they figured that no one could touch them, that they're now the least bought or recommended system ever. Now don't get me wrong on this, it's not a matter of the chips inside the computer, no it's just that the arrogance of a computer company thinking that they can't be touched by anyone else in the market, it's really not worth it in the least any more. For my personally, I'm going to be getting a Sony Vaio when the chance and the time comes for it, plus there's also another thing that Dells don't have that I do want in my next laptop, and that's a Blu-Ray player. No Dells at all have them. Also any government location that you happen to go to (local, state or federal), they all have Dells. You walk into a public library, and all their computers are Dells. Yet when you look at the laptops that people happen to have around them, you'll notice that maybe one in ten is a Dell if that any more. they're either HP, Gateway, Acer, Sony, etc. Anything other than a Dell.
Now when it comes to Anti-virus, never go with the Norton programs, those are commercial and are now considered the worst anti-virus programs out there, plus they don't cover everything that you're going to need, but then again you would still need two different programs to keep your computer safe to begin with. For the anti-virus program, the one that I would recommend is Avast (http://www.avast.com/), and they are one of the best and I actually use it too. It runs in the background and makes sure that nothing bad ever gets onto your computer at all. However there is something else that does get onto the computer that an anti-virus program can't touch, they're called spy-bots and they're one of the worst creations ever. They get onto your computer and can create all kinds of hell when it comes to your system. Hell they stopped me from going on line at one point even though the connection was still good. There is a program that's out there that will kill the spy-bot and make sure that your computer stays safe period. The program is called Spy-Bot S&D (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html) and that program will keep your computer up and running period. You put both the Avast and the Spy-Bot S&D programs on their and everything will stay in great shape period.
Now I'm not getting paid by either of these comapnies to advertise anything, actually no the reason why I'm writing this in the first place is because of the trouble that I've had when it came to a virus that my flash drives picked up at the library, it's known as the Recycler Virus, and just deleting it won't get rid of it, you have to run anti-virus in order to get rid of it. And thinking that having a Norton anti-virus program running is going to do anything, well for me it didn't. The Norton system didn't do anything and I had to have a friend wipe the virus out, and since I now know which computers at the local library have the virus, I'm not touching those computers with my flashdrives at all. The boys in the IT department think that the ways that the anti-virus programs are set up that they'll be able to take care of any and all viruses, that's the arrogance that I was talking about right there. Their programs aren't working the way that they should in the first place.
Don't be like the IT boys of Fresno County that think they can cover anything, it doesn't work that way, then again doesn't matter where in the government they happen to be, all of the IT guys for any place happen to think this way from what I've noticed. However you have now two great programs to try out, The avast has a free personal one to download right from their homepage (the full pro one is a pay for one), and the spy-bot s&d is free as well from the site above. Check them out.
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Felix Sanchez
Sign Dancer, Liberty Tax Fresno, CA
Alhambra High School
Class of '97
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