More Messages for Mike

Mike,

I've also been thinking lately why I have so little trouble with Windows and Internet Explorer, and why so many of my clients have so much. I have uncovered a few possibilities, beyond the usual oft-discussed necessity of keeping Windows, Antivirus, and Antispyware software up to date.

First, I use professional grade top-quality more-or-less-state-of-the-art hardware costing about 3-6K or more per tower. Most of my clients are running semi-obsolete consumer-grade towers that cost from .5K to 1.5K max. This means not only premium quality components EVERYWHERE but massive quantities of RAM and HARD DRIVE. A really fast system can cope better when under stress. A lesser system may break under stress (putting aside the issue of why it's under stress in the first place).

All my systems are DOUBLE-FIREWALLED, meaning that they are running not only the basic built-in XP Firewall - but also -- a HARDWARE FIREWALL IN THE ROUTER. So if you are using a router, Mike, I would check and see if the ROUTER has a Firewall, and if that firewall is switched on. If it doesn't have a firewall, toss it out and get one with a firewall. If it has a firewall but it's switched off in the router setup, SWITCH IT ON.

I have not found a need for internet security programs, given all the above, but one supposes they could help, especially for the unlucky and trouble-prone, provided one can live with the fact that they often break and clog things up etc. McAfee stuff works well, and Trend PC-CILLIN makes a nice internet security suite that seems a lot more robust and trouble-free than Norton Internet Security. Something like this, installed and running nicely on a healthy system, might keep one out of trouble. I usually install it on non-XP systems because they usually don't have firewalls otherwise, but it will run with XP no problemo.

Active versus Passive Spyware protection. Ad-Aware is passive. Spybot is active. I'm using Pest Patrol (remember that one?) LATEST VERSION and Ad-Aware and Spybot. Keeps things quite clean. Easier by far to keep clean than to get dirty and then clean up afterwards. Can one have too much Spyware protection? I doubt it. Firewalls and Internet Security Programs fit into this category.

By way of example/illustration, I recently redid my system and after a few weeks there is ONE PROBLEM and ONE PROBLEM ONLY with this very complex system (***FIVE*** PRINTERS are attached, for example): a "setconfig" utility program associated with my HP LASERJET 1300 crashes and gives an error message on startup. This is an annoyance rather than a functional problem, and it's the only problem. No Spyware problems, no IE problems, no Windows or IE crashes or freezing, nada. Ever!

So what else can I say but, reasoning by experience, "It Can Be Done."