Panda Cloud Antivirus
I've recently borrowed back my laptop from my younger sister. She had fallen victim to some nasty malware on her laptop, so I loaned her mine while I worked on hers. After getting it back I decided to start out with a fresh image of my own. For antivirus this time around, I chose Panda Cloud Antivirus. I've known about Panda for several months now. I would have started using it earlier but the program did not support Windows Vista or Windows 7 until recently. Panda works a little bit differently compared to most antivirus programs that we have become accustomed to. While most antivirus programs download a set of virus definitions and then filter through all the files on your computer comparing them to these definitions, Panda does this in real-time by off loading most of it's processing to servers over the internet. Without getting too technical, this means two things for you. First, your computer will run faster because Panda uses less than typical system resources to run. Secondly, you should be protected from new viruses as they emerge at a faster rate than with a traditional antivirus program. Now this method of malware protection sounds golden in theory, however I am not sure how effective it is yet. It is still a fairly new product, but I think it has a lot of potential. The best part about it, is that right now you can get it for free from http://www.cloudantivirus.com/. Just be sure to uninstall any old antivirus programs first as they may conflict.
What I like:
- Fast download and install of the client (Around 5 min. total for me)
- Easy to understand user interface
- Automatically detects and removes malware
- Automatically updates
- Small footprint on system
- Offloads scanning to the internet
- Reporting tab that displays types of threats detected
What I don't like:
- It hasn't been around long and not sure on it's reliability yet
- Rotten eggs
Secunia Personal Software Inspector
"The Secunia PSI is ready to locate, assess, and assist you with patching the insecure programs installed on your PC that expose you to security threats."
The prior is the welcoming message to the Secunia control console and it describes exactly what the program does. It scans your systems installed programs and finds out which are current and which are not.
Why would you want to do this?
- Out of date programs are often a security risk and attackers can use them as open door ways to your machine.
- Developers typically make their products run more efficiently in later versions
- New features can be added to later versions of software
If you are interested in finding out if your programs are secure head here and download Secunia PSI.
Spotlight: Real-Time Systems Analyses
Spotlight is a program that monitors the overall performance of your PC. The nice thing about it is that it has many different views available to collect information. For example, the default loading screen bundles great information such as processor usage, memory usage, hard drive space available, page files written, etc. It makes this information pop by implementing well placed icons that change colors when performance is below a threshold (which can be changed). Another noteable feature is that you can view information however you please. There's the home screen which provides an overall view of your system and different charts that can keep track of performance over time.
Right now we've been using this at work to keep an eye on the performance of some of our servers. I am still in the process of learning how to have it monitor automatically to create perfomance baselines. If this supports Windows 7 I will be trying it out at home soon.
If you are interested, head here to download your free copy.
Super f4
What is it?
Super f4 is a small footprint program that allows you to kill applications at lightning like speeds. If you press Alt+f4 it gives you a skull and cross bones cursor, then you can click on the program that you want to kill with it. If you press ctrl+alt+f4 it will close the foreground process.
Why would I want it?
When you end a process through task manager, you aren't really killing it. It's more of an asking it politely to clean up and close. If you use Super f4 instead it kills it much faster.
Are there any downsides?
Yes. I've killed my windows explorer (the program that puts the start menu at the bottom of your screen and displays your icons) several times on accident already. A simple fix though... press ctrl+alt+delete, start task manager, and then launch windows explorer.
Where can I get it?
http://code.google.com/p/superf4/
HostsMan
Ok, for this post we will have to go over a little bit of background information. HostsMan is a program that helps you easily edit your hosts file. So, what is a hosts file? A hosts file is something that windows uses to quickly resolve url's to their respective ip addresses. For example, when you type www.google.com in your web-browser that is converted to an ip. The computer then uses that ip to navigate off to google's servers. Ok... so that's what a hosts file is. Now what the hells is HostsMan?
HostsMan allows you to edit this host file and block certain hosts if they aren't wanted. For example, you could add known porn web-sites to your block lists. Also, you can use HostsMan to sync with host files online. I didn't do any manual editing of my hosts file, but I did chose to sync with some that HostsMan. As a result a lot of ads, and pop-up windows pop us as "page cannot be displayed". So I don't have to view annoying ads before they are automatically blocked by HostsMan. HostsMan also includes a "server" component to their software that is supposed to improve web browsing performance. I am not sure how that part works, I don't use it myself.
If you want to take it for a spin, head here.