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The Rife Report June 2009 |
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Win7 Dates + Upgrade Advisor; Hiatus I know, I know - you've heard from "techie" friends that all Symantec-Norton software is bloated, causes your system to be slow - either when starting or working and that it is really tough to remove. Their advice is to uninstall your copy of the software immediately. Well, some of that may have had elements of truth to it over the years, but Symantec, the company that creates Norton software products, has worked diligently to pare down both the size (or bloat, if you will) and the impact of their security software, until this year they have been rated by most reliable reviewers as Number 1 on the planet - and for good reason. Symantec gave Norton Internet Security a major upgrade last year. It uses fewer resources and scans files much faster than previous versions. That was great, but those using Norton 360 v2 are stuck with Symantec's old scan engine. 
Big Yellow to the rescue! Symantec added all the performance enhancements from NIS 2009, releasing Norton 360 version 3 early in March. Other additions are upgraded backup and tune-up modules and the Norton Safe Web component with real-time Web-site evaluations.
To all intents and purposes, 360 is simpler to use, and thus aimed at the novices in the crowd, while NIS is for those of a more geek mindset. Yet this year they are much closer in effect and use. I found both products superb pieces of the protection species with each having solid tweaking additions, with perhaps a bit more in NIS. When using 360, you can stay with the default settings, but it has some tweaks this time around. NIS remains simple to check your status, but, again you can do much more tweaking with it. Case in point: There's something about the 360 icon in the system tray which caught my eye and has been very useful. 
It enables me to quickly disable certain items such as a firewall, when I'm installing fussy software or working with my local network - and the "off " time is also adjustable.
Both Norton products now use the same new leaner, faster scan engine. 360 now scans your system noticeably faster. The speed goes up after the initial scan, of course. Succeeding scans are only of files that have changed or are not in the trusted list. Mind you, after a list update, the reset may change times again. A new Silent Mode delays any non-critical notifications while your computer is set to display a presentation, movie, or game in full-screen mode.  PC Tuning comes with Smart Startup, allowing you selective boot process. Unlike Microsoft's msconfig.exe utility, it measures boot times and will notify you of slow programs and applications. Online backups are made possible through the Norton Backup Drive, an Explorer interface, still managed by 360 for ease of use. Symantec touts its new user forum, saying: "The Norton Users Forum, which has been in beta since April 2008, is a rich and thriving community which adds 1200 new users and generates over 7000 posts each month. The forum features discussion boards for Norton products, including a dedicated one for Norton 360." Norton 360 v3 standard costs $ 79.99 US (activation for 3 PCs and 2GB of online backup storage). The Premier Edition costs $ 99.99 US (activation for 3 PCs and 25GB of storage). Check it out here. A final point - for anyone needing to remove a Symantec / Norton product, perhaps for some re-installation situation, there is a free Norton Removal tool, always updated for current products. It is quick and efficient and available for download. Microsoft quietly released Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 on May 26th after some delays. The company completed the release to manufacturing (RTM) final version of Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 on April 29th. Then it delivered fully integrated images of SP2 for Vista and Windows Server 2008 to TechNet and MSDN subscribers around May 14-15. To quote the company, SP2: "supports new types of hardware and emerging hardware standards, includes all of the updates that have been delivered since SP1, and simplifies deployment, for consumers, developers, and IT professionals." 
In other words it is something you may require. More realistically it completes Vista in preparation for Windows 7. The download is a big aid for IT guys in deployment, but not something consumers really need because most of the juicy tidbits have been available through recent months via manual download.
The software giant posted some things to know about these service packs last month at this Technet site. One of the warnings is if "vLite" was used to customize your Windows Vista installation, you may have removed required system components which prevent SP2 from installing. Redmond has a workaround - the nub is re-installing Vista. Duh! Gamers might eye it with suspicion. There are reports that SP2 does hinder hard disk drive performance on the Intel ICH9R controller chip by more than half. It could be SP2 or a poor driver. It also affected loading times. Seconds are important in this aspect of PC use. New drivers are coming, so in this case we suggest patience installing SP2. Some programs won't even run or have a loss of functionality after you install SP2. Included are
Microsoft is expected to begin pushing the service pack by way of Windows Update around June 30th, but if you are very eager to install SP2 then use the download links below - Download: Vista SP2/Server 2008 SP2 32 bit Download: Vista SP2/Server 2008 SP2 64 bit Download Vista SP2/ Server 2008 SP2 ISO Do you need it? Not really, if you've been keeping up with your updates. Eventually, as noted, it will be an Auto Update, so you can easily wait to decide. Microsoft has a blocker tool available, in case you don't want it. In a warning to XP users, Microsoft points out that: "After you install Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), you cannot uninstall Windows Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8. "When you use the Add or Remove Programs item in Control Panel, there is no option to uninstall Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8. This issue does not occur if you install Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8 after you install Windows XP SP3." If you've already installed XP SP3 and you need to uninstall Internet Explorer 8, you'll have to uninstall SP3 first, then uninstall Internet Explorer 8, and then reinstall the service pack. KB article 950719 documents the problem. If you run into web sites that conflict with Internet Explorer 8, you can run the Fix it routine described in KB article 957700 to roll back to Internet Explorer 7. Mind you, this does NOT work if you are an XP user with SP3 installed (as noted above). Paul Thurrot, a computer technical writer who not only tells it all very well, but designs and creates the SuperSite for Windows ( here ) on which his material is shown, has completed his superb online series: Windows 7 Release Candidate Review. The following are excerpts, paragraphs in which he gives not only his conclusions on Win7, but his idea of exactly what date it will be released to the public. Read on and enjoy -  "I've been using Windows 7 as my primary OS since last year and as my sole production OS since the RC hit. (At which time I upgraded my remaining XP and Vista machines to the Windows 7 RC build.) I have experienced no major hiccups during this time at all. And in treating Windows 7 as final code, I've found that it has risen to the challenge by responding like final code. It is now, in pre-release form, in roughly the same shape as is Windows Vista with SP2. And that OS first shipped over two and a half years ago. This deserves some mention and some accolades. "Sure, it's Vista done right, if you're cynical. But let's be fair, Microsoft could never have delivered this OS in 2006. Windows 7 is the sum of Microsoft's experiences from both before and after the release of Vista. And that system's public reception, fair or not, weighs heavily on this release. And we all benefit from it as a result. For the first time in a while, I'm excited about Windows. And this time, I'm not alone. "Microsoft also says it will finalize Windows 7 in mid-August and deliver it to the public in time for the 2009 holiday season. I can tell you, however, that the general availability date is a lot more specific than that: You'll be able to get the final version of Windows 7 publicly on October 15, 2009, according to the current schedule." Actual Win 7 pricing is expected mid-June. Win7 RC is available to everyone at the Microsoft web site. The company says it will leave it up until the end of June, so there's still time to test the RC. The retail arrival of USB 3.0 has been expected for some time now, but due to the drawn-out draft certification process, and general lack of pressure to get 3.0 SuperSpeed devices to market, it more recently wasn't expected until 2010. However, with NEC's new host controller, the arrival of the new USB standard could arrive soon, although soon is not clearly defined. 
The host controller is a chip which connects the host system such as a PC to external storage, peripherals or other systems. NEC's new host controller is based on the SuperSpeed USB standard which was finalized in November last year, more than eight years after the USB 2.0 spec was released.
The 3.0 specification promises transfer speeds of up to 5 gigabits per second with full backwards compatibility with both 480 Mbps USB 2.0 (more commonly called, High Speed) and 1.5 Mbps - 12 Mbps USB 1.0 (Low Speed to Full Speed). NEC says the new chip requires only 70 seconds to transfer 25 GB of video content to / from a Blu-ray disc, compared to the 14 minutes it would take with USB 2.0. The Windows 7 Upgrades Advisor is a 6.3 MB Microsoft download tool now available which scans your computer system, including all programs and devices to check whether you are able to run Windows 7. Once installed and running and its scan is finished (it takes a few minutes), a report shows if your PC meets the requirements. If, perchance there are any known compatibility issues with any of your programs or devices, it also provides guidance on your upgrade options to Windows 7.  As you can see from the above picture, many of Vista's features, such as Windows Mail, are not included in the Windows 7 you buy, but are available as free downloads - you choose what to add to the core components. FYI - The following is a list of what Microsoft deems Windows 7 system requirements: Supported Operating Systems: Windows 7; Windows Vista; Windows XP Service Pack 2, .NET 2.0 Framework or higher if running on Windows XP. And, yes, the Advisor is easily uninstalled, removed via Control Panel in the normal manner. As has been my practice in the past, I'm taking the summer off - no Report or Blog for the months of July and August. It's feet-up time with a good book in a lounge chair on my back deck. I won't attempt to rebuild my premier machine as I've done in the past - I'll wait to see how many new motherboards come on the market after Win7's arrival. Thank you for your encouraging emails. All things being equal, see you in September! |
