Join Paul and Tony Delroy to look at some of the trends and events that are affecting how you use phones, computers and internet in your home or business.
A lot’s happened in the tech world over the last few weeks – Facebook has gone from the web’s golden business to being shunned, new tablet computers have been launched and we’ve had a virus threaten to knock people off the Internet.
If you missed the show, you can listen to it online through the Nightlife website. Some of the topics we looked at included;
- So what was the DNS Changer Trojan? Did the FBI really take over a criminal computer network?
- Could a virus really damage computers and bring the Internet to a halt?
- Is it true the US, Israel and North Korea are using viruses to attack other countries’ computers?
- Should we worry about viruses on smartphones and tablet computers?
- What about virus hoaxes? There’s a good one going around about Facebook at the moment?
- Both Microsoft and Google have launched new tablet computers, will they knock off the iPad?
- Microsoft’s tablet is going to run the new Windows 8 operating system, how does that look?
- Facebook seems to have gone from hero to zero since they launched on the stock market. What happened?
- There’s been some pretty serious Facebook privacy changes recently, what should people watch out for?
- Microsoft have had some big security updates this week, what are they.
For the Microsoft updates we mentioned, the major security updates can be downloaded from the Windows Update page or the Automatic Updates in Windows Vista and 7.
Windows 7 and Vista users should also disable the desktop widget feature, Microsoft have two fix it tools available for download and users should run both.
Listeners questions included the following problems;
Alternatives to Outlook Express
George was looking at upgrading to a new version of Windows that doesn’t have Outlook Express included but still wants a computer based email client rather than trusting a cloud service.
Some of the alternatives include;
- Windows Live Essentials – Microsoft’s replacement for Outlook Express has both online and offline features.
- Mozilla Thunderbird – The open source email client from the developers of the Firefox browser.
- Zimbra Desktop – A third party email client.
Antivirus programs
Margaret asked about antivirus options for Macs, there’s a couple of free antivirus programs designed for the Apple Mac
- Clam AV – can be difficult to setup and configure but offers good protection.
- Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home edition – a free and effective AV product.
For Windows users, the easiest free anti-virus to use is Microsoft Security Essentials.
Microsoft Silverlight on Android
Accessing Microsoft Silverlight based services like NineMSN on Google Android devices can be a problem as Jason found.
Unfortunately at this stage there’s no clear solution for playing Silverlight sites on Android devices as Moonlight, the open source Silverlight player has been abandoned.
Next Nightlife spot
Our next Nightlife tech spot will be on August 6 and we’ll decide the topics closer to the dates. Watch the website for details over the next few weeks.
A note to thank you for appearing on Nightlife and providing information on your web site.
I find it most valuable as I live alone in the mountains and have no one to ask.
Following your advice last night (12JUL12) I downloaded the recommended Mac anti-virus software: until now I had been quite concerned at having no protection.
Great show as always.. Always something to learn.. Thanks Paul… Cheers Lou from Laurieton NSW
Hi Paul,
I enjoy your segment on the night life.
have you any sugestions for small programs that monotor data usage and can control which programs are accessing the internet using up my data.
Thanks,
Andy
Always download the podcast to listen on the tractor and enjoy and learn from your knowledge. Thank you !