All too often I hear or read about different testers having good or bad experience with the software they are testing. I thought for my install of Windows Vista Beta 2 I would document the events of the install as they occurred
I started with a basic machine. 1.8 GHz P4 processor, 512 MB or RAM, 80 Gig hard drive. This is not the fastest machine around, yet it is not the slowest. I want to see how Vista with work on a low end computer.
Below is my log of the install.
7:04 Put the DVD in DVD drive. Left clicked on My Computer, and then double clicked on the DVD drive.
7:16 Entered the activation code. A pop up window came up and told me that I needed to uninstall AVG antivirus program.
7:20 Uninstall AVG from the Add/Remove Programs and restarted the computer.
7:23 Windows is now checking hardware compatibility.
7:24 A window popped up telling me that Standard Game port, Netgrear FA311 will not work in Vista. I clicked okay. Files started to be copied from the DVD to the hard drive.
8:09 Windows finished copying files from the DVD and started gathering the needed files.
8:27 The expanding of gathered files start.
8:29 Windows reboots and expanding gathered files continue.
9:02 Installing features and upgrades starts.
9:05 Windows reboots the computer
9:16 Configuration has started
10:13 Success the logon screen appears.
10:20 Finished some personal setting. Then shut off the computer to replace network card, with a 3Com.
After a three hour search of the internet I could not find Vista drivers for either one of the Ethernet cards. The only drivers I could really find were for video. Microsoft provides a kit for building my own driver.
In my opinion Vista is not ready for prime time. It needs a lot more driver support. I will spend the couple more days looking for Ethernet card drivers. If I don’t find what I need, I will uninstall and wait for better driver support.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Monday, June 19, 2006
Stop Spamming Me
- There are many good anti-spam software tools out there. Outlook and Mozilla have built in them a spam folder and block list. Still the best protection is to practice a few basic Safe Computer Habits that won’t get you on a spammers list from the beginning.
I tested my theory with two free email addresses. The first email address I would use when asked for an email address from some website. The second email address was used just to send receive email to some friends who I know to practice Safe Computer Habits. Within a month the first email address was receiving over a 100 pieces of spam a day. The second may receive on piece of spam a week.
All I did was practice the following four habits. - Don't buy from spammers. The bottom line of Spammers is money. If you buy something from them makes them think you will buy more stuff from them.
- Don't unsubscribe from a spammer's list. Unsubscribing from a spammer's list will only get you more spam. You got to remember that Spammers don’t have any moral. All they want to do is get you to buy what they are selling.
- Don't use your primary email address to sign up for anything. I have a free email address that I use when I sign up for newsletter, or anything else that might put me on a Spammers list.
- Treat unknown e-mail as spam. If I don't know you, then you got to give me a good reason to read your e-mail. I get more email than the average person, so there has to be a good reason for me not to delete it when it comes to my inbox.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
The GUI Evolution
Ever since the first computer landed on the desktop there has been an ongoing evolution of functionality and easy of use for the end user. The in the last few years security has not only become a concern, but a demand.
The biggest leap for ease of use has been the development of the Graphic User Interface (GUI). The GUI gave us the point and click. This convenience put a drain on our processors and RAM. Just having a GUI finding the right program that will do what the command line function would do became an ongoing task. As people used their computer’s more their monitor screen had to be easy to understand along with eye pleasing colors.
The command line requires typing exact commands with all the spacing. There is a great deal of human memory to remember the different commands and their switches for additional functions. Today, only hardcore programmers use command line. Oh did I mention that using command line does not require as much processor and RAM.
Computer hardware manufactures have had to keep up with the demands of the individuals who sit behind the computer. File sizes have gotten larger. Programs have required faster computers with larger memory just to type a letter.
Microsoft with Vista and Office 2007 are struggling to make to a GUI easy operating system, but other product with easy to use, and secure. Apple and the open source community have to deal with this tall order for a technology. We must remember that computers, as we know them, are less than half-century-old. Yes, we have made leap and bounds in the last 50 years. However, let us have patience with the programmers. They have an immense task to accomplish.
The biggest leap for ease of use has been the development of the Graphic User Interface (GUI). The GUI gave us the point and click. This convenience put a drain on our processors and RAM. Just having a GUI finding the right program that will do what the command line function would do became an ongoing task. As people used their computer’s more their monitor screen had to be easy to understand along with eye pleasing colors.
The command line requires typing exact commands with all the spacing. There is a great deal of human memory to remember the different commands and their switches for additional functions. Today, only hardcore programmers use command line. Oh did I mention that using command line does not require as much processor and RAM.
Computer hardware manufactures have had to keep up with the demands of the individuals who sit behind the computer. File sizes have gotten larger. Programs have required faster computers with larger memory just to type a letter.
Microsoft with Vista and Office 2007 are struggling to make to a GUI easy operating system, but other product with easy to use, and secure. Apple and the open source community have to deal with this tall order for a technology. We must remember that computers, as we know them, are less than half-century-old. Yes, we have made leap and bounds in the last 50 years. However, let us have patience with the programmers. They have an immense task to accomplish.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Data Theft More Common Than You Think
Late May 2006 saw perhaps the largest theft of Veterans’ Social Security numbers to date. This is where personal information stolen or laptops containing the data were stolen. When I first read about a burglar who simply took a laptop, which contained veterans’ personal information. The best-case scenario, the data has already been erased and the hardware pawned at a small shop.
It was not until I started doing some research that security breaches and theft of personal data was so common. Over 79 separate report data breaches took place this year so far. I discovered these security breaches were a result of someone on the inside that opened the door for the information to be lost or stolen.
In computer security circles, there is a principle of least privilege. It says that only data is available to those who absolutely need, have access to it. I need to ask two questions. Did that data need to be on that laptop? Did that individual have to take that data home to do his or her job? In my mind the is a resounding NO! to both questions.
We have seen US Government regulations concerning the security of our personal information forcing business to tighten their security policies. People are flawed. No matter what the law and company policy says, people will still do what they can do without being caught.
What we have seen with the veterans’ data is a prime example of what should not happen. Personal integrity any business or government agency employee must be top priority before entrusting them with our personal information. The only way I know to do this is to get from out behind the computer and have a face-to-face contact with people on the other end of my information.
It was not until I started doing some research that security breaches and theft of personal data was so common. Over 79 separate report data breaches took place this year so far. I discovered these security breaches were a result of someone on the inside that opened the door for the information to be lost or stolen.
In computer security circles, there is a principle of least privilege. It says that only data is available to those who absolutely need, have access to it. I need to ask two questions. Did that data need to be on that laptop? Did that individual have to take that data home to do his or her job? In my mind the is a resounding NO! to both questions.
We have seen US Government regulations concerning the security of our personal information forcing business to tighten their security policies. People are flawed. No matter what the law and company policy says, people will still do what they can do without being caught.
What we have seen with the veterans’ data is a prime example of what should not happen. Personal integrity any business or government agency employee must be top priority before entrusting them with our personal information. The only way I know to do this is to get from out behind the computer and have a face-to-face contact with people on the other end of my information.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Software Perfection - NOT!!!
Friday, May 26, 2006: Associated Press reported Symantec Corp.'s, or more commonly known as Norton Antivirus a leading antivirus software manufacture. Symantec protects some of the world's largest corporations and U.S. government agencies. Their antivirus software contains a flaw that lets hackers seize control of computers to steal sensitive data, delete files or implant malicious programs.
If we cannot trust the big boys with our computer security software protection, whom can we trust? Why is it that we expect perfection in our computer software when we as intellectual beings are not perfect? Since we have coined such phrases as brain fart that describe our lack of mental awareness in complex situations, why should we expect perfection in our computer programs. The more I dive into the process of software development. There is a whole lot to remember. So out of a million lines of code forgetting to put in a validation or leaving space for a SQL injection can happen. Microsoft is known for security holes in programs. We have seen this in the last few release of Microsoft's IE7 beta and Vista. The code changes made things worse. The more they try to combine security along with nice features and user friendliness creates many problems.
Nevertheless, stop and think about all the hackers and crackers that scan the billions, trillions lines of Microsoft code to find something wrong. As no surprise, they do find something wrong. Then Microsoft finds people pointing their fingers saying, "They should have a better and more secure product. Let me see you do it better!
There is not such thing, as perfect software program there all will have security problems. The question is whether or not that the risk will be something that will be of high risk. Enough time combing over lines of code, comparing code to what it actually does will find imperfections.
If we cannot trust the big boys with our computer security software protection, whom can we trust? Why is it that we expect perfection in our computer software when we as intellectual beings are not perfect? Since we have coined such phrases as brain fart that describe our lack of mental awareness in complex situations, why should we expect perfection in our computer programs. The more I dive into the process of software development. There is a whole lot to remember. So out of a million lines of code forgetting to put in a validation or leaving space for a SQL injection can happen. Microsoft is known for security holes in programs. We have seen this in the last few release of Microsoft's IE7 beta and Vista. The code changes made things worse. The more they try to combine security along with nice features and user friendliness creates many problems.
Nevertheless, stop and think about all the hackers and crackers that scan the billions, trillions lines of Microsoft code to find something wrong. As no surprise, they do find something wrong. Then Microsoft finds people pointing their fingers saying, "They should have a better and more secure product. Let me see you do it better!
There is not such thing, as perfect software program there all will have security problems. The question is whether or not that the risk will be something that will be of high risk. Enough time combing over lines of code, comparing code to what it actually does will find imperfections.
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