Trend Micro Titanium

I actually installed Trend Micro Titanium on my mom’s laptop because their trial subscription of Norton had run out. Everything went really super smooth. And fast. Soon, I was staring at the main screen of Trend Micro Titanium and it was like, “Whoa, that’s small.” It’s much smaller than Kasperky’s main screen and it’s even mildly skinnable so I choose my favorite for my mother’s computer. They’re the type of users who don’t have any specific needs so set-up was pain-free.

It was a different case when it came time to installing Trend Micro Titanium on my laptop. To begin with, it made me uninstall all of the anti-malware programs I have. It’s really aggressive in that it wants to be the only program on your computer. I’d prefer if that weren’t the case. I understand that you shouldn’t run two anti-virus programs but general anti-malware programs like Spybot shouldn’t be an issue. In fact, when I uninstalled Spybot, it told me so.

Every time Trend Micro discovered a program it made me uninstall and reboot. I’d have to start installation again until it discovered another program and then reboot. This happened three times or so and, although it didn’t make me uninstall Windows Defender, it disables it at the anti-malware solution because Trend Micro wants to be my everything.

For many people, this wouldn’t be an issue but it was just the beginning of an experience that didn’t allow me to fully customize the program.

After I finally had it installed, I ignored it for a while. Unlike Kaspersky, I was able to use it without having to modify every setting. It didn’t seem to be so overly zealous that I was having problems with it blocking programs or online content, which I like.

Unfortunately, after installing it, my boot time grew drastically and I was experiencing issues with lag and general slowness. I took the time for some general maintenance and that’s when I noticed that Trend Micro has installed some Firefox plugins. Unfortunately, none of them were compatible with the version I was running–6. Of course, since they weren’t compatible, I couldn’t remove them from the add-ons options in Firefox so I hit up the Internet which directed me to a help page on the Trend Micro site. This page told me to run some non-existent installer file so I was back to square one. I downgraded to Firefox 5, to find that the extensions are now compatible but I still couldn’t remove them via Firefox.

I took a look into the settings of Trend Micro and saw that there is an option for a browser toolbar–which I disabled. There were no other options regarding extensions. However, with the removal of the toolbar, the lag seems to be greatly reduced.. but I’m not entirely happy with a program that is so demanding and insistent. I’d like to be able to use the other software that I’ve come to trust and remove the extensions.

Aside from that, Trend Micro Titanium is less complex than Kaspersky Internet Security and I think that a lot of people will like that. The main interface allows you to quickly view recent threats and perform a scan, as well as offering access to various tools. These include the ability to wipe personal data by overwriting files rather than deleting them, fine tune your system, parental controls and a password-protected vault where you can store files. Like Kaspersky, I really don’t need any of this.

However, Kaspersky offered advanced anti-spam, anti-banner, firewall and mail controls. There aren’t as many options — like an email whitelist — available with Trend Micro Titanium and the program simply offers a boost to Microsoft’s default firewall.

I’m sure that, one year from now, Trend Micro will have served me well enough. As long as it remains unobtrusive my feelings will remain neutral at best. However, despite the complexity of Kaspersky, it offered more options to customize it to my liking. For me, this is a big deal but it may not be for you. If you want to try it out, you can head over to TrendMicro.com and enter the coupon “BZZ30″.

Pixlr Online Image Editor

Despite the fact that it’s so powerful, Pixlr doesn’t cause any lag in my browser or computer. At all. It’s so much easier to use than Microsoft’s Paint–either version but especially the newest which uses that ridiculous “ribbon.” Because it’s Web-based, I can easily log on from any computer I may use, even if I’m not on my own.

I haven’t even experimented with every feature of Pixlr because it does so much. If you need something a little simpler, the website includes an Express editor and you can quickly apply vintage, retro and other fun filters with the Pixlr-O-Matic, which spices up your photos. I’ve also just discovered a Firefox and Chrome plug-in, Grabber, which allows you to easily load photos from the Internet to Pixlr.

The most effective solution I have found it Firefox Preloader. This “is a utility that is designed to load parts of Mozilla Firefox into memory before it is used to improve the its startup time.” After installation, it sticks around the Windows icon tray, in the bottom right corner. You can activate it by setting it to “Preload” Firefox and “Unloading” de-activates it.

Firefox starts notably faster with this tool; however, it’s not instantaneous. One other consideration is that, if you need to shut down all your browsers (to install a plug-in, for example), your computer thinks Firefox is running as long as it is preloaded. Thus, you’ll have to unload it for those processes. It’s not a big concern but just something to keep in mind.

I have had less success with SpeedyFox, despite it’s shexay icon. SpeedyFox is supposed to improve Firefox’s start up time and cookie efficiency by optimizing SQLite files within your Firefox profile. Usage requires you to launch the tool, choose your profile and click to optimize files. Immediately after optimization, I had some trouble logging into sites so I’m not sure my cookies were all that “optimized.” I cannot say that I have noticed much improvement after running SpeedyFox and am currently still using Firefox preloader. However, there’s really no uninstall option or de-optimize options, I guess you would call it, with SpeedyFox so if it wound up doing some harm, I don’t know how you’d reset it.

Final thoughts: Firefox Preloader does decrease load time and SpeedyFox.. eh.

What you get for this price is a one-year subscription to Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 for three computers. This includes the famous Kaspersky anti-virus program with browser, mail and program protection as well as an entire parental control option, a firewall, network protection and features so secure that your average user may not have even heard of–like a vulnerability scan, soft keyboard and a safe run mode.

There’s a lot there and, to be honest, some people may simply need something simpler and even though I am no computer n00b, it took me a while to adjust the settings to find my perfect balance. However, if you’re especially concerned about security or running a small home or business network and require an entire security suite, this is it.

The anti-virus option is probably what most people are looking for and Kaspersky offers the standard real-time protection, scanning and ability to update. Kaspersky includes all of these options as well as a desktop gadget that allows the user to see the status of his or her computer. I have to say that, honestly, I exited out of the gadget right away because I don’t enjoy clutter but if you want to be up to date, you may find it more useful than I do.

One thing I would like to take the time to note is that Kaspersky automatically installs plug-ins for your mail and browser programs. I, personally, am not fond of this and would like the option to choose to install or not. I wound up uninstalling Kaspersky’s Firefox plug-in but am still using the one or Thunderbird. Unfortunately, it adds a [spam] or [possible-spam] tag to messages which actually confuses Thunderbird’s integrated spam filters so I’m still retraining them.

Kaspersky’s firewall is a wonderful addition to this security suite but I have to say that I would prefer if the graphical interface had a section specifically dedicated to it. As it, it’s lumped into the rest of the program a bit messily. You have to expand all the options on the main screen to locate the option to turn it on and off and there doesn’t seem to be an way to customize it. This tripped me up at first because I had added all my preferred programs to Kaspersky’s “safe list” but it seems like this doesn’t apply to the firewall, too. It took me a few days to figure out the firewall was blocking a game I play (Maplestory) and I now keep it permanently turned off. However, I do use the Windows firewall and there has been no conflict with Kaspersky.

Still, it’s awesome that you can turn on or off individual protection features. I currently have anti-phishing and anti-banner options turned off because this blocks even some legitimate content in my browser and e-mail. In fact, I would guess that Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 is a bit too strict for many users and that very reason would cause some of them to uninstall it, if they even realize it’s the program that is causing these changes.

Parents will love Kaspersky because it allows them to block sites, programs and limit Internet usage on a per-user basis. I played with it for a bit and was excited to see that it detects all devices on the network and allows me to create separate profiles and settings for each of them.

Some of the more unique features of Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 include the virtual, or “soft”, keyboard that the user can employ when entering sensitive information such as passwords or account numbers. This prevents the data from being tracked via keylogging programs. Safe mode is another feature that adds an additional layer of security when visiting confidential sites in your browser and the vulnerability scan will tell you if your computer, network or software settings make you a potential target for infections. Kaspersky also includes data back up and system restore utilities, in addition to those that your computer may include.

One thing I would like to not is that I experience no lagging or freezing issues from Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 but I have only used it on my brand new computer. The requirements for Windows XP make me think that it wouldn’t run as well on my desktop and users for whom memory and disk space are precious commodities may prefer to simply use Kaspersky Anti-virus because it is not as demanding. It does not include all of the features of Kaspersky Internet Security, of course.

If you have the time to get to know Kaspersky Internet Security, you may come to love it but if you don’t or if you’re a computer novice or like things to work out of the box, you may want to stick to an anti-virus program that doesn’t offer so many features.

Upon the arrival of my new laptop, I wanted to connect it to the Internet and that meant we had to buy a router. Since she also just purchased an Xbox Elite with wireless capabilities, it made sense to purchase a wireless router. Having set up more than one network, we stopped by Best Buy to compare their stock and I decided on the Surf N300 because it was in our price range and offered potentially higher speeds than routers in similar ranges.
Rest “assured” that the 300 MBps speed rating (which is compatible to a wired network using a slower category 5E Ethernet cable) has nothing to do with the actual performance of the device. Set up really was simple and, at first, I enjoyed the fact that this router comes with a default SSID and WPA/WPA2 key. You can use it right out of the box–and I did! I plugged the Ethernet cable into the modem (the other was already plugged into the router), plugged in the adapter and swapped the Ethernet cable to Wendy’s computer to the ­­router.

And I was able to connect to the wireless network without any hassles. The strength was maximum but.. the Internet wasn’t working. We were able to enable that by installing the software on Wendy’s computer. We probably didn’t have to (in my experience, you usually don’t need to install router software) but we were excited because we thought it worked. In fact, setup really couldn’t have been easier. You don’t even have to enter the default password into your wireless device if you hit a physical button on the router to turn off WPA protection for 60 seconds (if your device is WPS compatible).

It seemed awesome until we realized that the Belkin router was causing the Internet to lag. Both the desktop and laptop were experiencing Internet speeds that made dial-up look impressive. I’m not even kidding. I wish I was. And I wish I could say that the modem wasn’t the problem because then we’d both be able to be on the Internet at once but it is.

The problem remained whether one or both of us was connected to the Internet. It didn’t matter which website we used. I upgraded the modem’s firmware (twice) to no avail. I unhooked the network and set it up all over again. I double checked that her modem is not also a router (it’s not). I changed the settings to those which would be more ideal for our setup and, when that failed, I reset all the settings.

The only thing that did help was looking up the router’s reviews online and they weren’t good. I should have done this to begin with and don’t know why I didn’t but you can bet that I am kicking myself now.

So, long story short, the Belkin Surf N300 impairs Internet connections for no good reason. It’s not that it doesn’t work or that anything is broken. It’s just that it doesn’t work that well. I will be returning this router to the store and replacing it with one that doesn’t suck. I’m looking at a NetGear, instead.
You should, too.

Right now, I cannot give a complete review but I can say, so far so good – except for the part where one of my USB ports sucks but this is not the fault of Seagate and their hardware. Setup is really easy, once you plug it in, the autorun will guide you through setup and registration of your new drive. My computer recognized it without problems and the software works on Windows computers running XP or Vista. I’m not sure if Windows 7 is supported and there was a notice for Mac users that a Mac-compatible drive is available so I don’t think they can use this.

I would like to say that the included USB cord is really short. It’s 17″ from end to end which doesn’t give a lot of room. If I plug it into the back of my tower, it has to sit on the floor right next to it or on the back edge of the top of the tower. Luckily, it’s a generic connector type (Mini-A, I believe) so if you had a cord from another device like a camera or one of those swappable connector cords, it’s really a non-issue.

Installation went without a hitch and soon I was running the Seagate software to backup my computer. The software is pretty straight forward and works well, which I appreciate it. It was easy to do a full back up, which I chose to do, or a custom one. Basically, all I had to do was press a button and the software was copying my entire C drive. You can tell how dated my computer is when I say my drive is only 80gigs and you can imagine my frustration when, even that, took over 7 hours to back up. It was probably more like 8 or 9 but I cannot recall what time I started doing it.

Now, it’s important to note that while FreeAgent Go is USB 2.0 compatible, you won’t get the higher speeds on regular USB1.0 ports and, because my computer is older, most of my ports are 1.0. As it happens, the one that wasn’t initially working was 2.0 so back ups will definitely be faster on newer machines. The Seagate website states that USB 2.0 will go up to 40 times faster than USB1.0 (480 Mbits/sec as compared to 12 Mbits/sec). And this doesn’t mean it doesn’t work, just that it doesn’t work quite as efficiently. I did rerun the backup when my USB2.0 was working correctly and it only took less than an hour!

If you are experiencing slow transfer times, it may be because you are not using a USB2.0 port (Seagate has instructions on checking that) or because you failed to do things like defrag or run checkdisk before (Seagate also has something to say about that).

During the entire time, the lights on the drive itself flickered to let me know it was ‘working.’ When it finished, the lights stayed steady. If you don’t find the lights useful, they can actually be turned off with the software, too. However, the lgihts do help to indicate if the drive is connected and if you ever run into port issues, they can be a troubleshooting tool. I do find that the flickering is not quite as vibrant as I would like and I have to look at it for a few moments to determine whether the lights are steady or not.

The good news is, after the initial backup, I will only be backing up changes in certain folders, like “My Documents” which only takes a few minutes. And there were no hardware or software issues. Newer computers will probably have an even more efficient time of things but it’s good to know this drive works with older ones because my mother’s computer is also quite old.

Seagate also offers the option to encrypt files. I probably won’t use it but it’s great in the event that I leave the drive plugged in or forget it someplace (not that I would be taking it anyplace I could forget it but still).

So, assuming Seagate FreeAgent Go 320 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive works well with my mother’s computer, I really like it. I just wish the pink one were prettier so I could have bought that!

Unlike actual Nexon cash cards, the $20 Ultimate Game Card can be used with games such as Runescape, Silkroad and Trickster Online. It’s also pretty ugly but that’s pretty inconsequential. ;) And, unlike a regular cash card, one does not simply go to the regular page to add a card to one’s account. Instead, I had to go through the process of selecting NX (Nexon’s currency) and then use the Ultimate Game Card as payment by selecting PayByCash. I was then taken to the PayByCash site which allows me to choose a payment method, including the Ultimate Game Card as well as these other methods:

• Cash (through the mail) – US Dollars
• Money Order or Cashiers Check by Mail
• Moneybookers
• BOKU – Pay by Mobile (Mobillcash)
• Western Union QuickPay
• WebMoney Transfer
• TravelersExpress MoneyGram

After entering my information and card number, the process was complete and I was directed back to the Maplestory site. The amount loaded into the cash shop immediately and easily. However, I had to go through the process twice because I bought a $20 card and the Maplestory site only has options for $5, $10, or $30 increments. This meant I got 4 e-mails (2 for each transaction, one from Nexon and one from PayByCash). Regardless, I now have a cute white tiger to pick up my Mesos and help me get rich.

I was surprised at the extra steps it took to redeem the card and this might be confusing for some if they don’t take the time to read the instructions on the back (I didn’t at first) but I’d probably buy the Ultimate Game Card again in the future.

And now? I can play my Nintendo DS online. YEA! Well, not mine, really. Mine sucks. But I can play Ryan’s, and he can play his PSP or use his iTouch because of the PLANEX WiFi USB Adapter. Read the rest of my review.

Luckily, I’ve never had any problems with memory and I’ve mix matched brands but sometimes a crappy stick can cause hardware issues and the horrible Blue Screen of Death. Besides struggling to insert the actual stick – which is only because my tower has cramped – I’ve had no problems with my RAM from Centon and would buy it again or recommend it to others.