Take control of your computer

When get calls from friends and relatives about a problem with their PCs, one of the first things that springs to mind is ‘too much software’.

Most people have fairly simple requirements: they want to browse the web, do emails, write letters, maybe run a spreadsheet or two and perhaps play the odd game. This calls for the installation of, at most, around ten applications if you include an instant messager, Skype and, rummaging around in my system tray, I also find EditPad Lite, a free, fast and much more capable replacement for Windows’ brain-dead Notepad.

But what do I find when I actually get to take a look at the machine that’s behaving oddly? Usually the symptoms are that it’s slowed to a crawl and there are common causes for that.

These days, lack of memory isn’t as much of an issue as it used to be, as most PCs come with at least 2GB which is fine for light to medium usage — although adding memory remains one of the cheapest and most effective performance upgrades you can buy.

Disk defragmentation, I hear you thinking — but without exception, my most recent call-outs have all insisted that the disk is defragged — Microsoft seems at last to have done a good job on this problem.

No, the problem is usually bloatware. A quick rootle through the task manager’s list of processes shows two or three anti-virus packages, maybe a third party firewall running as well as Windows’ own package, and a whole host of programs that seem designed to add minimal value and maximum CPU utilisation.

Many of these get installed by PC manufacturers because they get paid by software vendors to do so. It helps to keep the prices down but you don’t get something for nothing. Many also get installed by default when you install something entirely unrelated.

My next step is to remove almost all this cruft, explaining what I’m doing along the way just in case the user is really attached to or actually requires the application. At the end of the process, the disk and memory are considerably emptier, the CPU is issuing palpable sighs of relief at not having to churn away at full chat all the time, and the user experience is enhanced.

What prompted this thought was being caught the other day by this secret software installation when Firefox insisted it needed a new version of Adobe’s Flash player. I dutifully downloaded and installed — but didn’t pay enough attention to the install dialog boxes and found myself with an unwanted McAfee AV package. Others have found they get a browser toolbar as well.

It’s so easy to do. So the message this week is to pay attention to your installation dialog boxes and refuse to install stuff that insists, without an option, to install software you don’t want or whose purpose is unclear.

Not only is this good practice — it’s like keeping those fluff balls from piling up in the corners of your wardrobe — it helps to keep your PC secure as the fewer applications you run, the fewer security holes there are likely to be.

Why free AV can be better than paid-for

One of the big news stories this week is Intel’s purchase of McAfee, one of the two biggest security software companies — and there’s a reason why you should care.

But before we get to that, there’s been a number of reactions to the news from industry observers. Among the most prevalent has been surprise followed by mild bewilderment: why would Intel buy McAfee which, as The Register pointed out, is a big company but doesn’t develop exceptional technology? “There’s nowhere from anti-virus to IPS to mobile security where its products particularly stand out,” said the story.

So why would Intel want to buy it, especially for $7.76 billion — 62 percent over the McAfee’s stock market valuation?

Intel sees the future as mobile: people are switching to smaller devices as chips become more capable. And where the market goes, surely malware will follow. And this is why you care. You might be using a desktop today — you might even be using a desktop in 20 years time — but the people who don’t own a desktop — or even a desk — won’t be, and they outnumber you hugely.

Those people will need protection against malware and they’ll need it built into the hardware, preferably the CPU, and that’s why, I suspect, Intel wanted McAfee — although there must have been some other technology under development that we don’t yet know about, as McAfee’s publicly visible technology on its own seems unlikely to command such a huge price.

Despite Intel’s investment, it seems unlikely that McAfee’s anti-virus technology will change much — and there are much better offerings out there from smaller, more agile companies, even those such as Avast who develop technology you don’t have to pay for.

If you doubt it, check out the specialist anti-virus site Virus Bulletin. It recently tested a range of AV packages, and avast’s free Antivirus was a top performer in VB’s battery of malware detection tests. It detected all in-the-wild viruses and scored better than some of the best-known paid products, including those from both McAfee and Symantec. This shows that cost isn’t the sole measure of quality of an AV package.

Avast makes a splash
Some Avast news now — and it should mean that Avast’s technology will continue to improve. Avast has landed an investment of $100 million from growth equity investor Summit Partners in return for a stake in the company. This is, said Avast CEO Vince Steckler, “a vote of confidence in our disruptive ‘freemium’ business model, which combines a full-fledged free product with a premium one.”

Although the company hasn’t said what it’ll do with the money, the investment suggests that Avast now has greater financial stability and can spend on developing its technology further, as well as reaching out to the 80 percent of desktops and laptops that don’t yet run Avast.

I’ll bring you more news of this as I get it.