Supplements

On a more personal note I would like to say something about supplements. I have a myriad of complex and serious health issues. Friends, family, and strangers frequently try to advise that I use various supplements to be healthy. I usually try to politely dodge or ignore this kind of advice for a few simple reasons:

• Supplements do not go through the same process with the FDA as medications. 
• Unless a doctor prescribes one they are better left alone. 
• In many cases, such as vitamin supplements, it is a waste of money and just creates expensive urine. 
• In other cases, such as medicinal supplements, it is easy to dose wrong or take something that interferes with other medications. 
• People confuse the word supplement with natural and they confuse the word natural with safe. 
• A chemical is a chemical is a chemical. 
• If you are going to use a medicinal supplement it is no different than using a prescription drug when it comes to the precautions that should be taken.

That said, there are supplements I use that are a net gain for my health. They have been suggested and or prescribed by a doctor. Supplements for all intents and purposes are drugs and should be treated in the same manner. I don't think there is anything wrong with using them as part of a routine to maintain health, I just believe it is better to consult somebody with the proper education on the matter before taking them.

Not So bad After All

I think I was a little hard on the show ,"Adam Ruins Everything" in a previous post. After watching a few more episodes and following some of the sources cited I believe it to be of more educational value than I had initially thought. I still think people that got their news from "The Daily Show" with John Stuart or mistook "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!" as a valid documentary are ridiculous, but I can't honestly put  "Adam Ruins Everything" in the same category after a second look.

I think person that clued me into the show by using it as a reference to support ridiculous claims is what threw me off. This person had also tried to claim that security such as antivirus & firewalls only give the illusion of security, that they don't actually do anything. He of course tried to use an episode of "Adam Ruins Everything" to back this ignorant idea up.

The episode the person was referring to was "Adam Ruins Security" and it is the second of 7 episodes thus far. I watched it and saw it touched on some internet related security issues but it didn't support the arguments. At first I viewed the show's reasoning to be reductive but that wasn't really the issue. It didn't support his claims because it didn't address them, not because the subject matter was faulty or biased. It did briefly touch on online security in certain matters like banking, but not on antivirus or firewall software.

I have found the series as a whole to amusing and informative thus far. Much of what has been covered are things that I and some of my friends have known and talked about for several years. it is nice to see the information getting out there. It is sad that I was almost derailed from it by somebody not intelligent enough to understand the it.

DirecTV's Lukewarm VOD Service

I'm incredibly disappointed in DirecTV's On Demand service. After using Comcast's On Demand service DirecTV's version has been a bitter disappointment. The selection is very limited. Much of what is offered is still SD.The interface is designed to lure you into the paid content, and unless you subscribe to premium channels most of the free movies are unavailable. I'm not sure what the point of even having it is.

I'm guessing On Demand offerings are controlled to some degree by the content providers. The rest is likely controlled by the capacity of the service providers. These issues aside,  most broadcast companies are starting to embrace the concept of video on demand service. DirecTV not offering much in the way of broadcast on demand is an issue. I don't know if they have been shut out or if they just haven't shown interest in providing the service.

At any rate if you have DirecTV and the appropriate hardware to go online with it there is no harm in looking, but you will be better off with other streaming services. DirecTV's On Demand is no match for services like Netflix or Hulu.

Being careful isn't really being careful without antivirus okay?

I have noticed a trend among gamers and people that work in computer security related fields. There are always a few of them in every encounter that insist that they don’t need antivirus protection. They say they are careful or that it degrades performance. Regardless of how careful a person is online antivirus protection is a must with Windows. People that subscribe to the “Being Careful is Enough” myth think that malware only comes from downloading suspicious files, running software that isn’t patched, visiting the wrong web-sites, or using Java or Flash in your web browser. Malware is clearly spread in all these ways, but it is also spread in ways that require little more than a network connection and the use of software over said network.

Security vulnerabilities are found in web browsers, plug-ins and pretty much any application used online all the time. New ones are frequently found faster than they can be patched. There are hackers that find these vulnerabilities and sell them to organized crime groups. Web servers are hacked and used to distribute malware through vulnerabilities. That means the simple act of visiting a website can infect your computer. This can happen even if you only visit trusted sites. Your trusted sites could easily become the next target for an attack. You wouldn't know until after the fact.

Being careful is still a must. An antivirus package wont catch everything but it is your last defense when simply being careful isn’t enough. Most antivirus scanners include other types of malware these days, be sure to use one that does. There are several free options that score well on independent laboratory testing.

As for gamers that argue that antivirus degrades system performance, this used to be true with certain products and older hardware but really isn't the case today. Computers are much faster and antivirus products are not bloated like they once were.

Snowden has it Wrong about Adblockers

Edward Snowden says that it is our duty to use an adblocker. I think he is making a preposterous claim to be honest, but not because I disagree with the intended result. Adblockers can be used for security purposes, but are hardly necessary.

Using an adblocker to block everything instead of removing flash or Java (not to be confused with JavaScript) is a lazy approach that isn't good for the economic health of content providers. A better approach is to disable java script and flash or maybe just flash because security benefits from disabling JavaScript are dubious at best. Much of the modern web wont display or work properly with JavaScript disabled so if you feel the need to disable it maybe you shouldn't be online to begin with. Flash is another matter. Kill it with fire. There are better standards replacing flash and unless you absolutely have to use it for work or educational purposes it should be avoided.

The bottom line is that it is better to disable the services being exploited than to just block all advertising. Most legitimate web sites don’t use intrusive advertising such as animated ads with loud sounds and Pop-ups/unders. If you want to avoid malware and exploits stop using plugins, run a real-time antivirus and be more careful. Use of an adblocker is fine, just take some time to disable plugins like flash that pose security risks and whitelist sites that aren't intrusive with advertising. Content isn't free and if you wont pay for it by viewing a few non-intrusive ads it will disappear or get put behind a paywall.

Windows 10 Start Menu - Now with Ads!

After the November 12th update to Windows 10, code-named "Threshold 2" you may have noticed that the start menu now includes app advertisements.

The Start menu may show you occasional recommendations of apps you could install when you open it. This is yet another feature that clutters the new and improved Start Menu for Windows 10 users. I'm guessing Microsoft is trying to encourage Windows 10 users to install and use more apps from the Store. 

While cross platform apps are kind of cool and getting the word out may be important, I'm not sure this is the way to go about things. Microsoft needs to do more to encourage developers to port their apps over from Android and iOS to for their mobile devices before they try pushing us to use apps from their store on the PC.

This isn't really that big of a deal, but I'm sure there will be bloggers that are either victims of FUD or just want to capitalize on it posting all kinds of nonsense on the subject. You know the type. The ones convinced that Microsoft is spying on our every move and ratting us out for our downloads.

Don't break out your foil hat. This isn't a conspiracy. You can easily disable these ads, if you don't appreciate them. Go to Settings > Personalization > Start. Just disable the “Occasionally show suggestions in Start” option.

You don't have an Android phone.

I think most people are aware of this but I feel the need to get it out there because of the misinformation and bad comparisons I keep reading. You don't have an Android phone. Android is an operating system that can be installed on any device with compatible hardware, not a type of phone. I don't see people with iPhones calling their phones iOS phones. That would be kind of silly.

The reason I mention this is because there are so many phones that utilize Android that questions about hardware and comparisons to Apple products done in this matter are all useless and result in junk data. People try to categorize them all as Android phones vs iPhones. People that categorically compare their iPhone to every make and model of phone that uses Android are being ridiculous and don't even realize it.

It is the same as the people that said they had a "Microsoft Computer" in the 1980's and 1990's because they were using MS-DOS or Windows on it. They didn't have one, there was no such thing on the market at the time. Microsoft with very few exceptions was strictly a software company. It was difficult to answer questions because there were so many existing chip-sets and configurations on the market, but these folks couldn't even tell you the brand name. They just said "Microsoft". Flash forward to present day when Microsoft actually does sell hardware like the Surface and the Lumia I don't ever hear the annoying phrase "Microsoft Computer" anymore.

Google's Self Driving Car Pulled over.

Most have probably already heard about this, but it is just to funny. I initially heard about this on the radio and it made me laugh. Yes, I still listen to radio at times.

A police officer stopped a Google self driving car Thursday November 12th in Mountain View, California. I can only imagine the look on the officer's face when there was no driver. The car did apparently have a passenger.

The car wasn't speeding. It wasn't weaving. It wasn't driving erratically. It was just driving too slowly. Slowly enough to back traffic up behind it. It traveling at 24 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone, according to the Mountain View Police Department. 22400(a) of the California Vehicle Code doesn't allow drivers to impede traffic in this manner, but there was no ticket issued as there was no driver. I guess a ticket could have been issued to Google but that seems silly. I wonder how Google would react to such a citation?

Google says that these vehicles are capped at a speed of 25 mph. It seems that this may have been the first incident involving one of these prototypes cars and a traffic stop. Will it be the last? At least it was on the amusing side rather than the unsafe side of things.

Installing BIOS Upgrades

Usually a firmware upgrade shouldn't be done unless there is a hardware compatibility issue, performance problem, or exploit. There is always a risk with firmware upgrades that should be taken into consideration. An upgrade gone wrong may cause your computer to not start properly. If there is a power loss or other interruption your computer may not be able to boot afterwards. If you determine that you need a firmware upgrade there are steps to go through to make sure the upgrade is successful.

1. Check the current version of the BIOS against the version you are upgrading to. Also it may be a good idea to obtain a copy of your current version should you need to roll it back for any reason.
2. Use a reliable power source. Don't trust your battery with a laptop. Plug it in. Use a UPS with a desktop if possible.
3. Ensure that you have the appropriate boot media for your system if needed. In most cases on modern systems the process can be completed with a utility that runs in Windows but this may not be the case with older systems. You may need a bootable floppy disk or CD-ROM for the process on older systems.
4. For modern systems that use an executable within Windows it is a good idea to ensure everything is patched and up to date before you attempt the firmware upgrade. Also close any unnecessary programs that may be running before you start the process.
5. The utility for upgrading your BIOS will vary by manufacturer, but is usually a straight forward process as long as you take some simple precautions and read the documentation before attempting the upgrade.

Firmware makes use of nonvolatile memory and is present on a variety of devices. It isn't just limited to your computer's BIOS/CMOS. When you power off your device the information stored in the firmware is still there. In the case of the BIOS it instructs the computer what to do with all the devices when the system receives power. Your computer can't start without it so only upgrade your BIOS when necessary and be cautious.

Review of Glary Utilities

Glary Utilities didn't seem bad at first but some of the functions don't really do anything accept make users that don't understand how certain things work feel better. For example, a registry cleaner will have 0% impact on system performance unless you are using something like Windows 95 and a very small amount of RAM. Registry size and duplicate or empty registry keys don't slow things down any more. Computers have gotten much faster since this was an issue back in the mid to late 90's. 

When I got a better look at Glary Utilities I decided to advise people to stay clear of it. All in one utility packages like this contain a lot of filler and techno babble with very little substance. A large majority of the functions either do nothing to help or even worse create other problems that may not be immediately evident.

Glary Utilities contain these functions which have been shown time and time again to be useless or even harmful in many cases (some of this is included in the "1 click maintenance" option):

• Registry Repair
• Registry Cleaner (Potentially dangerous & does nothing to speed up your computer)
• Registry Defrag (Useless for any computer less than 15 years old with Windows XP or higher)
• Software Update (Third party software hosted at their own site, better, safer and more accurate to just download from actual publisher.)
• Defrag (Already handled automatically and better by Windows. Usage may result in file system errors.)
• Memory Optimizer (Snake oil. Third party utilities do not and will not optimize your ram. They actually serve to slow your computer down.)

If you gain any improvement it was from one of the functions duplicated by Glary Utilities that are already built into Windows. Any thing else helpful in Glary Utilities is handled better by various stand alone utilities.