These past few weeks has been a bit of a blur for us as a family.

Life has had to continue but our first “experiment” has now moved on to the first steps of his own life. Bear with me as that isn’t as harsh as it sounds, but first I need to step back in history some 19 years.

19 years ago last Friday our eldest child was born desperately ill and very premature. Due to a combination of events (things we now see as directed by God) he was born 12 weeks (3mths) early at a hospital that wasn’t our local one. We were instructed to prepare for the worst and that if the worst didn’t happen then our baby would be severely disabled, never walk, never talk and bizarrely we were also told he’d never play a musical instrument! Well I won’t regale you with the ins and outs of it all but you may guess that he did survive.

Yes there is a permanant reminder of his early arrival – he is profoundly deaf, but like most things related to him it has all been taken in his stride. Were you to meet him you’d likely never guess he was deaf unless you work in the support of deaf people and even then you might struggle. Despite his deafness, like most children he can talk the proverbial hind legs off the donkey – even as a teenager. And yes he is an extremely accomplished musician to the point where he can play several instruments to orchestral standard and several more ‘just because‘. He also, until last weekend anyway, helped to lead worship in our sister Church and was frequently a member of the main band.

Beyond this he is also a straight A student and amazingly he even speaks languages, four at the last count, with an accent which is highly unusual for a deaf person. His straight A’s slipped a bit this year though because he contracted glandular fever – and whilst we knew of it, we didn’t know of its lingering effect quite as much as we do now. This illness is a real party pooper and saps energy almost like turning off a light switch. However they didn’t slip that much and he got high enough grades to start his chosen degree course – a double honours in Physics and Computer Science along with being awarded an excellence bursary for being one of the top students entering his university.

So, coming back to the present, last weekend (and those leading up to it) was very busy as we drove him to his new life. We busied ourselves with helping set up his little room, get connected to the university network, find his way around and so on. Then came the weird part of driving away knowing that he was now on his own. Yes we’ll always be there to advise, direct, care, love, etc but in reality the day to day decisions are now his. And it struck me as we drove away that he had been like an experiment.

Every decision we made, every action we took, every time we disciplined, every time we cared for him when ill, and so on and on was all an experiment. We’d never done this before and like he is now, we were on our own to make the choices. If we got it wrong, we mopped up the mess and tried again. If we got it right we took note of what worked and filed it away for re-use. Some might call it gambling but I prefer the experiment term. Another word which I didn’t think of at the time is pioneer – but whatever word we pick he has certainly been a role model in helping us guide his siblings.

Why tell you all this? Simply to give the Glory to God for his life. To thank God for the blessing he has been and the blessing he will continue to be as he starts his own experiments.

And I’ve saved his name until last. We firmly believe that all three of our children have been given God inspired names and that the naming of things is an extremely powerful process. His name then is Owen which means “a youthful warrior“.

Thank you faithful and marvellous God.

There is a lot of good information out there on how to secure your PC’s and I don’t intend to repeat any of these. What I do want to do is document what I tell my friends and family in one place so that I can easily point them at it – rather than me waffling on each time. I also want to add in a “how to” remain safe when using your PC.

The order in which these steps are approached greatly depends on individual circumstances – is the machine brand new, has it already been used on the web … and so on. Anyway, without further ado:

• ensure all OS updates / patches have been applied
• install a software based firewall
• install a reputable AV application
• use malware scanners, etc on a regular basis

And that is the sum total of it.

Well, no, it isn’t but that is the basics. Of course questions will arise such as what firewall, what AV, what do I do with the alerts, etc., and it is these I will attempt to answer now.

1. Update your PC. Ensure your PC is running the latest service pack and has got all the latest patches. This one is a simple matter of going to the Windows Update site and following the prompts.
2. Install a firewall. There is a lot of debate as to whether you need this with some thought being that ‘if you’re behind a router and have up to date AV then no you don’t’ – however I strongly disagree. We all fall prey to installing software or clicking on something that perhaps we shouldn’t and this is where a software firewall comes into it’s own. Software firewalls primarily work by alerting the user to outbound connections and it is these we need to be most wary of – as once we allow an outbound connection the reverse is also true.My current choice of free firewall for home use is Tall Emu’s Online Armor <sic, but equally as good is Comodo’s. There are marginally better paid versions (including Tall Emu) but I’d suggest keeping an eye on Matousec’s site for the latest news.
3. Install anti-virus. This is an absolute must. These days, most AV software will also do basic malware scanning so please don’t fall into the trap of buying a suite (av/firewall/malware/etc all in one). The decent free versions out there are from Avast and AVG but for what it’s worth I use Nod32 for £30 a year.And whilst here, you must make sure you keep you AV signature base up to date.
4. The rest.

My other advice is:

- do all your surfing in a sandbox / virtual session – this will keep your surfing sessions separate from your day to day PC activities and you can more or less click on anything without affecting your PC. Once done, close the sandbox session and all you’ve just done disappears. This includes installing apps that you want to try. For this I recommend (and use) Sandboxie – which is also free.

- don’t click on anything you don’t recognise. This includes the latest attachment from your mates unless you are expecting it. If in doubt, question it.

- use online AV scans periodically to supplement your installed one. A second opinion is always worth it. Here’s Trend, Bitdefender and Panda Security versions.

- use anti-malware scanners from time to time, such as A-Squared or Window Security variants.

- don’t use IE it is a security nightmare. If you insist you like it better, or websites only work with it then install and use Firefox along with IE Tab.

- use some form of web filter to semi-automate you being shielded away from the bad sites. For a free one that works well but is currently a one size fits all approach, then try Bluecoats K9.

- don’t use Outlook or any of its variants. Or if you insist on doing so, then get a Google mail account and then collect your now mostly filtered mail from there. Locally also run spamfighter to grab anything that google misses – between the two you’ll have a mostly spam free inbox.

That, in a nutshell is it. Yes I could go on and on, but then a line needs to be drawn somewhere. What I will add is that if you suspect your PC of being infected already then a slightly different approach needs to be taken.

In my initial post on the subject I said I’d give it more time and so I’ve fiddled some more with Chrome and I still don’t like it.

Here’s a little list which will probably grow – and yes I have to precede this list with the warning that the software is still only in beta – of things that bug me about Chrome. However, knowing how much firefox has taken off surely Google would have at least thought to come close to matching what it offers before releasing it.

Or was their aim purely to detract from the release of the latest beta of IE8? Anyway, that list:

• No plugins
• No profile roaming
• No full screen ability (unless I’m missing it)
• A separate search box (call me a luddite if you want)
• No status bar
• No roboform integration
• It breaks my gmail customisations
• And I’m sure there are more I’ve forgotten ….

Also I’m very much not alone in my feelings – though equally there are those whom have gone OTT about the product. I’ll not link to it because I disagree with the language used, but do a search for Googasm on The Register and you’ll see what I mean. Alternatively have a read of this article over at CNet where you’ll notice Josh’s ideas mirror some of mine (or mine his).

Furthermore it still has security issues that have been fixed by other users of the webkit platform – read all about that over at ZDNet.

Another thought … my once, almost favourite web app was greenborder, a sandbox app that allowed me to wall off the internet and all its badness was purchased by google and appears to have disappeared never to resurface. Or has it? I wonder if this is what they are using to power their separate ‘walled off’ processes for each tab? Hmmm.

One last thought and then I’ll stop my bashing and leave it alone for a month or two … one of Chrome’s much discussed good thing is its speed, especially with its own mail, apps, etc. Well I’d be very surprised if it wasn’t. However, Firefox latest build(s) has a new java rendering engine at its heart called TraceMonkey which is faster than the Chrome offering. As a default TraceMonkey is not turned on but can be – Mozilla are looking to release the new version by year end ….

Jim’s post about over at Church Tech Matters about the bogus security software Antivirus XP 2008 has set me to thinking – again.

I remain amazed that some people consider it still ok to surf the web without adequate protection. Let me clarify that – here I mean machines with Windows installed – before the *nix and Mac crowd start hollering. I can understand that some people don’t have access to cheap, free and useful advice but when that same set of people are my family and friends then I shake my head in anguish.

These same folks (bar one) all ask for my assistance in their purchases and as part of my patter I always tell them not to be swayed into buying the AV / Firewall / Whatever App that the store wants to push and we will do better with freebies. So, they get their shiny new box set it up and then I come along and do my magic for them. Whilst there I spend a fair bit of time on ’safe surfing’, what to look out for, what to beware of,  what not to do and so on.

Only the other day my best buddy confessed that his PC was messed up and he was fed up with it so was going to buy a laptop all for himself. He mostly blames the messed up PC on his children (teens) and the junk they download. After he’d finished his rant my first question was what AV was he using and after getting a puzzled shake of the head followed it up with well what firewall then. So then ensued the lecture … but I don’t feel convinced that he’s going to listen and what’s more he’s now gone wireless and I’ll lay good odds that it isn’t secured either!

So, and getting back to my point, all this has got me to thinking about my advice. Rather than repeating it ad nauseam, why don’t I document it and then just update it as prevailing thoughts or technology change? To that end I’m going to work on a, I hope, fairly simple and straight forward document and publish it here. I may even give it its own page or similar. If any of you have anything to add or suggest changes then please do email me.

Oh, and once done I’ll put a link to it from this post.

So I’ve been playing with chrome – google’s new broswser project – and my initial thought is one of yuck.

I’m desperately trying to be impartial but I find it ugly, incomplete (ok, ok so it’s a beta) and too rigid. Call me a stick in the mud but I like my seperate search box, though I can see the ease of use factor for being able to search direct from the URL box.

I’m a lover of firefox and a despiser of IE. If I’m forced to use IE by a site (my bank thinks firefox is less secure than IE – way too funny) then I just use IE Tab to make firefox appear as IE and I’m in. Will chrome have these problems? I love firefox’s tabs, stability, constant updates, support, skins and plugins. I’m sure there’s more as well but I can’t think of them right now. I’m sure chrome will adapt and change and allow 3rd party plugins, etc but for now this is a show stopper for me.

Right now chrome seems dull, insipid and a poor, though much faster at rendering than IE cousin. Though it would seem to currently share IE’s security problems. Have a look at this PC World article.

Also – where’s my status bar gone. I like being able to see – though I accept it is but a poor representation of reality – what is happening to a page load, etc.

Next on my hit list is the lack of integration with Roboform. I guess a workaround will be along some day but I don’t hold my breath for it and if it isn’t, then sadly chrome won’t make it for long on my systems. Robo-Form Blogspot says it best for me.

Finally, for now, I’m not an immediate fan of my history or downloads history being opened in a new tab, but this is a minor issue and just a matter of getting used to it.

Oh, and if you’re still an IE fan, then go take a look see at the Chrome v IE site and cast your votes but please remember that this is not fact just peoples gut feelings being voted on.

I reserve my judgement, but will fiddle some more with it.