Windows vs. LINUX Mozilla Firefox Browser Web Hosting Mozilla Thunderbird Microsoft Antispyware (beta) Hackers & Spammers

WINDOWS vs. LINUX

Well this can be a touchy subject for many. Here we played with Windows XP PRO & Caldera OpenLinux. Of course the Windows system was easier to integrate into our network due to the native Windows environment but the LINUX box really was not much harder to establish into the ELFNET as we call it. These systems both did what we wanted them to do but the LINUX box worked a little faster. This is because of the massive overhead that Windows pulls down to get the job done.

We had our staff perform their daily task on each box for one week in our testing department. We put these boxes through the standard workstation applications available for each system (sometimes the same software titles are just not available for both). These applications were Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Web Surfing, and small amounts of programming with C++ and HTML coding. These task were performed just as they would on any box to get the job done.

However when asked by our staff most were in favor of the XP box just due to the familiar system. But the did not say anything bad about the LINUX box. So I guess to sum this one up it is just a matter of what you are used to.

Mozilla Firefox:

This is a newer browser to hit the internet world. We have been playing with this one for a while and let me tell you this one has others just blown out of the water. It seem to be faster and better quality graphics then the others. The layout is very similar to the standard IE but there are many other perks to Firefox. Just as an example NO POP-UPS and when you so to a secure site the whole address bar will turn yellow. I would recommend that everyone at least try this browser to compare to their current one. And if you are worried about your favorites getting lost, forget it there is an option to copy them over. You can find a link to the download site from our Toys & Tools Page.

Looking for a tweak to speed you up try this one:

In the address bar, type in about:config. This brings up a crazy looking page. Scroll down (type N to get there faster) and change the settings as follows:

network.http.max-connections - 40

network.http.max-connections-per-server - 20

network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server - 20

network.http.pipelining - true

network.http.pipelining.maxrequests - 32

network.http.proxy.pipelining - true

Restart Firefox and check out a graphics intensive page.

These settings you can play with to configure this browser to be what ever you want. Play around and have fun with it but remember to document what you change so you have a record to change back if you need it.

WEB HOSTING:

Looking for a good Web Hosting site. Well for anyone this could just be a pain. You might find a good service but the price is just way out there. Or you find a good price but the service is just down in the dumps. We have been testing several host for this site you are now on. We tried many providers and finally found one that we like. No this might not be the same for everyone but I tell you what the search is what gets you every time. Here are some things to look for when selecting:

SLA- This is your Service Level Agreement. This will entail what they do for you when they just can’t keep you site up. Very important to read fine print on these.

Transfer Size- This will usually be about 5-1000 GB per month. The higher the number means that more people can visit your site.

e-mail Hosting- Will they host your e-mail for your domain?

Domain Transfer- Do they charge to transfer and host your domain on their root server?

These are just some of the basics to look out for. There are many more it just depends on what you want to do with your site. Good luck hunting and you can start here if you want. This is our provider.

Mozilla Thunderbird:

We have been using this little program for a while now. It has great potential to compare with it’s closest competitor. This program will also learn how you deal with your e-mail. By that I mean what you consider junk and what you will read. This feature will come in handy when you don’t want to spend the big bucks for the mail filter software. When the final release comes out for this it should have centralized administration from network administrators to centralize the functions. Now that is not to say that the average home user can’t use this, it really works well for the home user and I think it was designed for you.

Microsoft Anti-Spyware (beta):

Well don’t let the Beta tag on this one scare you away. This little gem was purchased by Microsoft from a company called Giant. I know that Microsoft has a bad taste in some people’s mouth but you really need to try this one. It has a internet washer, browser hijacker block, and integrated Windows spyware removal. Not many do that. We have been using this from the first point of release and enjoy it. There has not been any mention of a charge or price point if there is a charge but Microsoft really needs to look at this one being free to help compensate the fact the huge bulls eye on the company. Hope you enjoy this one.

Why do the hackers & spammers do it?

Well this one has been a hard one to answer to so many people. But the reality is just a simple one, because they can. Most of these people just do it for a thrill. You know the whole look what I can do syndrome. Well the other problem is that they do it because we let them. If everyone had a fully secure system or network they would not have anything to do. So in part we are to blame. Microsoft has taken a bad wrap for these breaches in the past few years but there again the reality is that they have the most used operating system and therefor they have a huge bulls eye for the hackers to hit. So remember that the next time that you have the auto update download from the website that if you were using UNIX or LINUX then your operating system was not a target. But then you have the downside for you are familiar with Windows. It really is just a catch twenty-two. Bottom line is to slow these guys down (because you can’t stop them) is make sure your Anti-Virus is up to date, be sure to get a spyware blocker, and for internet use get you a Yahoo or Hot mail account that has spam blocking.

The Windows Vista & Longhorn coming:

Well we have tried to keep our mouth shut about this but now with all of the talk of Vista hitting the streets we just have to chime in. Longhorn has been out in the Beta testing for a while now. This is a Server end program to replace Windows Server 2003 flavors. But it was set to be released first of 2005. Well that date keeps getting pushed back and right now there is no date set in stone. The same is happening with Vista. Now Vista is a replacement for Windows XP. The problem is that Microsoft is trying to make as big of a change as they made going from Windows 3.11 with a DOS platform to the Windows 95 making Windows the operating system. This is causing problems. Both of these are very rough and well should still be in Alpha testing. Bottom line is there are going to be all the nice commercials for these telling you to upgrade, but now this is just me I will wait until the market basically demands me to upgrade to this as my full time OS. 10-15-2005