Heres a repost in case you guys missed it. Please comment and ask questions and the y will be posted in all my sites.

To check a VISTA computer for viruses and possibly remove them, try the following:

Start>RUN>Type the letters MRT and press enter.

This takes a few minutes and can be ran in the background as you work.

Also, make sure to use Windows Defender for a more in depth checkup.

When talking about Windows Defender on December 1, I had mentioned that MSFT tells you to use SEARCH to locate it … within your system.

Well today, I found that you can get ready access to ALL the Windows 7 tools, including Windows Defender, on one panel — without any 3rd part add-ons or WITHOUT having to customize your Windows START menu.

Simple.

Just open up your control panel … using whichever scheme you use. Does not matter.

See that ARROW (>) after ‘Control Panel.’ Click on it to make it display a drop-down menu. First item on that is “All Control Panel Items”. There you go.

Things that WE didn’t even know were there. Like real-time performance monitoring.

Well, as we say in Britain, “Bob’s your uncle.” Have fun. Just remember WHO told you about it.

Cheers

Anura Guruge
www.guruge.com

Yet again today I got an update, albeit fairly small, for Windows Defender.

Using the handy “Review Update History” I had a quick look at how often I get these updates. (↑) So today is 11/30. The prior one was on 11/26, the one before that 11/23 … 11/19 & 11/16. So basically I have got 5 in 2 weeks.

Earlier last week, I noticed that my cute ‘ACTION CENTER’ flag, on the right-hand ‘dock’ of my TASK BAR was waving.

It wanted me to run Windows Defender. There was link to press. Since I had never run Windows Defender I tried it.

Said something along the lines of ‘quick scan.’ I was game. Told it to go for it. It did. It was quick. Really quick. Found NADA.

Then I noticed a ‘advanced scan’ (or equivalent) option. Since, I was doing some reading and didn’t really need to use this PC told it to do that too. Took a few minutes. Yes, this system is kind of fast though I am toying with upgrading it with a higher i7 processor. My wife is asking me what I want for Christmas.

It said it scanned some 82,xxx objects. Found nothing.

But, my question is does it really have the ’smarts’ to find anything?

Yes, I have [paid-up] Avast! Professional 4.8. I get daily updates. I am using the Sept. 2009 build of the Engine. So, I would be bummed if Windows Defender or anything else found anything remotely harmful on this computer.

There is something Windows Defender that is ‘creepy.’ It is somewhat of a phantom, ‘The Phantom of the Vista.’

Well, for a start, you can’t find it using normal methods. Honest.

Go on. Look for it. Try Windows ‘Start.’

< Please refer to reader COMMENT below. It appears that it can be done. >

Nothing, right?

Go to the Action Center (via the Control Panel, if you must) and look under Security. If you are lucky you will see a mention of Windows Defender, but no ‘links’ to activate it.

Don’t YOU think that that is strange.

I snipped that straight from Microsoft’s ‘Using Windows Defender‘ Web page.

MSFT tells you to use SEARCH on your Windows 7 machine to find Windows Defender.

And YOU think, I make this stuff up.

This is weird.

OK, I will be nice. I will give MSFT a break (mainly because fairly soon I intend to break their sanguinity about fiduciary responsibility). Maybe, on my system Windows Defender is superfluous, possibly even impotent, because Avast is doing all the heavy lifting. Maybe.

But … then again.

I haven’t given up on crusading against pirated Windows 7 (and other software). As I have said, I do have a vested interest. Kind of hurts my feelings that people are bypassing a system that I had a hand in creating.

Well, it appears that MAYBE MSFT isn’t going to do nothing about pirated Windows 7. There is even a possibility that MSFT is ‘exploiting’ pirated copies of Windows 7 to ‘BLACK BOX‘ track Windows 7 users. Heard of the hidden, surreptitious black boxes that car manufacturers are installing on random cars so that they can monitor how people drive. Well, MSFT wants that same type of data on Windows 7 users. With legit users they will need to jump through hoops to get that. Privacy etc. But, if it is a pirated copy … no contract, no obligations … essentially outside the law. You can’t legitimately complain that MSFT is violating your privacy if you are using a pirated copy of Windows. So it appears that that is the deal … though this could be a conspiracy theory … or if you want to resort to 2nd or 3rd degree logic, claiming that it is conspiracy theory is a good red-herring to allay concern. Well, as the rumors go, MSFT at some point in 2010 will set about disabling the pirated copies once it has garnered a few warehouses full of data. Now the rub. Even the nub. With Windows Defender and the regular updates, MSFT has the perfect software disabling tool. No need to add anything else. A few new definitions and Windows Defender can GLIBLY start shutting down things. Make sense to me. But, this could just be a rumor. Who knows.

Cheers

Anura Guruge
www.guruge.com

A few events and ideas kind of converged, serendipitously, to make me write this post.

Yesterday, I had posted about FrontPage 2003 quirks a lady was having when running it on Windows 7.

Two days ago I posted that I finally got a Windows 7 driver for my HP P1006 LaserJet.

The other day I was thinking about the overall issue of ‘Windows’ compatibility. My background , and abiding passion, is in IBM mainframes. The core S/370 hardware architecture dates back to 1971 (or thereabouts). Software compatibility, across the decades and generations, is a hallmark of mainframe computing. The various operating systems, from OS/VS 1 to today’s z/OS, has bent over backwards to ensure this.

So, my thought process was, why is it so difficult to have ‘Windows’ compatibility.

Though I have now used Windows, daily, for 12 years, I am not a Windows expert. I can get most things done, but I have never really tried to understand how Windows work. Yes, I kind of know what a ‘DLL’ is but I cannot honestly say how it all fits together. Whereas, I used to pour over S/370 and OS/VS ‘x’ architecture documents, I can honestly say I have never read anything about the internals of Windows. So, I don’t know ‘why,’ but it bothers me that an application or driver written for XP will just stop working in a newer version of Windows, in this case Windows 7.

I was going to write today about the elusive Windows Defender. That I actually ran it the other day. But, I, for a change, wanted to find out a bit more about it before I wrote my post. So I visited Microsoft’s Windows Defender page (which, of course, I found via Google).

I was kind of looking for a ‘FAQ,’ and the nearest I found was ‘Help & How-to.’ So tried that to discover that it has a ‘drop-down’ for the various versions of Windows … my attention, of course, being caught by Windows 7.

Clicked on that. It wasn’t about Windows Defender! But, my eyes were drawn to a BIG HEADING that said “Top Solutions.”

#5 and #6 in that list were about Windows 7 compatibility. Some good information there. Even a video about how to try and run older programs on Windows 7. So here is the link, try it.

In the process, I discovered that my FireFox 3.5.5 (on Windows 7, obviously) requires a Windows Media Player 11 PLUG-IN from Microsoft no less, so that I can play Media Player videos in FireFox. I thought one of the built-in features of FireFox 3 was that it could play any video inside a tab. Hhhhmmm. I guess you still need plug-ins.

Anura Guruge
www.guruge.com

Don’t opt for Windows 7 Ultimate just because you like the sound of ‘Ultimate.’

Windows 7 Ultimate is intentionally misnamed by Microsoft to ultimately trap all of those that feel that they must have the BEST. There is nothing wrong with always wanting the BEST. But, in the case of Windows 7 Ultimate is unlikely to be the BEST option for YOU … unless you are bona fide road-warrior.

Check Microsoft’s Windows 7 COMPARISON CHART.

Do not rely on ANY OTHER chart. Whatever you do don’t listen to ‘YOUR PC GUY’ (and why do we have such a shortage of PC Gals?) who tells you that you should go with the ULTIMATE … since it only costs $20 more than ‘Professional.’

Check MSFT’s CHART. Note you only get two, and only two, features in ‘Ultimate’ above what you get with ‘Professional.’

Those two are:

1. BitLocker. That is on-the-fly data encryption. MSFT sells it as feature against hackers. Don’t buy that. That is disingenuous of MSFT, to say the least. We have Windows Defender that is supposed to protect us from Hackers? So, why do you also need BitLocker. Yes, BitLocker is invaluable if you have a laptop and are a road warrior. If the laptop is stolen or lost, you data will be safe. For that you need BitLocker. In my book, and I have written a few, that is the ONLY reason to have BitLocker. To protect data on ‘traveling’ laptops. Don’t ever think of BitLocker on a desktop. Just use Windows Defender and Avast.
   
2. 35 Language Support. That is very nice, but do YOU really need that on YOUR PC. Like how many languages do you use on you PC? Just good and bad English. That is two.
   

The irony is that I think BitLocker can actually have a performance impact on your PC. Don’t know that for a fact. Just a guess. I do know some about encryption, but I haven’t bothered to look up the details of BitLocker.

My goal is to just to give YOU a HEADS UP that Windows 7 Ultimate is not the Ultimate Windows 7 experience that you may have been hoping for. So don’t spend the extra without checking out what you are not getting to get.

Yes, I know that Windows 7 Ultimate is freely available, in pirated form. If you are going to use pirated software then this really will the ultimate kick for you. Go for it. The worst it can do is slow you PC down, but what the heck. You got THE ULTIMATE for nothing.

Cheers.

Anura Guruge
www.guruge.com