Hasta La Gadget! Page not found

Jul 24

AOL’s Free Active Virus Shield Ditches Kaspersky for McAfee

Posted in: Freeware, Newly Released, performance, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on August 07, 2007 by CyberNet.

Ever since a leaked copy of AOL’s Active Virus Shield software for Vista hit the web, I had been waiting for AOL’s official announcement. Well, now I know why AOL never released a new Vista-compatible version of their Kaspersky-powered antivirus software…they were instead preparing for the switch to McAfee!

The screenshot above was taken from the current Active Virus Shield website which kindly explains that Active Virus Shield is no longer available, and has instead been replaced with a special McAfee suite. It does include virus protection, spyware protection, and a firewall, but come on…it’s McAfee! They are just as bad as Norton when it comes to dragging down the performance of your computer. AOL does try to make it sound great by saying:

Buy this protection yourself, and you could spend as much as $39.99, but with an aol.com email address, you can receive this comprehensive set of safety tools free.

Yep, they even require you to get an AOL.com email address in order to use the software. Where’s the humanity?

Kaspersky, and therefore Active Virus Shield, always ranked highly on the antivirus tests which made the now deceased app even more appealing. It didn’t do quite as good on the retrospective/heuristic testing, but I didn’t expect a free program to be the best in every area. This is one freeware program that I will truly miss.

I haven’t tried the new one myself because, well, I’m not exactly McAfee’s #1 fan. I’ve known people who had paid for their software before, and they always end up complaining a month or two down the road that their computer is horrendously slow. I always give my condolences to them for having purchased the software, and immediately install Avast (or sometimes AVG). I’ve yet to see someone complain that their computer is extremely slow after doing that.

So if you’re up for it, you can get the new AOL McAfee Security Center at no monetary cost, but don’t be surprised if you have to forfeit a good chunk of your system’s resources. Current Active Virus Shield users (those that have it downloaded and activated with a key they received) can continue to use the program, but future sign-ups are no longer allowed.

Related Posts:

Jul 14

iPhone musicians invited to perform live with indie legends Good Night, States

Posted in: Apple, apps, AppStore, iPhone, ipod, Music, performance, Today's Chili

Good Night, States, it seems, are a trusting lot. These indie rockers have not only supplied Noise.io soundbanks for their songs, but if you check ’em out at Mr. Small’s in Pittsburgh this Friday you can plug your iPhone or iPod into the house sound system and jam along with the group. Noise.io, if you’ve not seen it before, bills itself as a “highly advanced sound synthesis workstation,” with a unique touchscreen interface and all kinds of features sure to make softsynth fans positively giddy. Ready for your fifteen minutes of fame? Pick up your copy at the App Store for $8.99, and then proceed to the read link to get started — but not before you peep the video demonstration after the break.

[Via Speed of the Pittsburgh Sound]

Continue reading iPhone musicians invited to perform live with indie legends Good Night, States

Filed under: Cellphones

iPhone musicians invited to perform live with indie legends Good Night, States originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Jun 24

iPhone 3GS Trounces Predecessors, Rivals in Web Browser Speed Test

Posted in: Apple, benchmark, iPhone, performance, Today's Chili

A benchmark test conducted by an iPhone analytics company indicates the new iPhone 3GS is three times faster with web browsing than the iPhone 3G and the Palm Pre.

Conducted by Medialets, the test involved running a JavaScript benchmark called SunSpider using the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, T-Mobile G1 and Palm Pre. (SunSpider tests the core JavaScript language only, and it’s designed to compare different versions of the same browser, or different browsers with each other.)

In summary, the results are as follows:

iPhone 3GS running iPhone 3.0 OS completed the test in 16.5 seconds
iPhone 3G running iPhone 3.0 completed the test in 48.7 seconds
iPhone 3G running the earlier iPhone 2.2.1 OS completed the test in 132.3 seconds
T-Mobile G1 running Android 1.5 (Cupcake) completed the test in 91.1 seconds
Palm Pre running Web OS 1.0.2 completed the test in 48.6 seconds

Here’s what we find interesting:

Even if you don’t purchase the latest iPhone, downloading the free iPhone 3.0 OS onto an iPhone 3G delivers three times faster web browsing than the iPhone 2.0 OS.
The Palm Pre is just as fast as an iPhone 3G running the iPhone 3.0 OS.
Before the recent iPhone 3.0 upgrade, the iPhone 2.0 OS was considerably slower than its rivals, taking about 40 seconds longer to complete the test than the T-Mobile G1.

Medialets used a MacBook as the baseline (i.e., the fastest performer for the phones to be compared to). The MacBook took only 1.36 seconds to complete the same test. The iPhone 3GS led the smartphone race, taking only 14 times longer than the MacBook to complete SunSpider.

Given these results, perhaps the iPhone 3GS will quell complaints about issues connecting to AT&T’s 3G network: From my own experience, it makes the slower EDGE network feel much speedier, too.

For full details of the benchmark test, see Medialets’ summary of results.

See Also:

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Image: Courtesy of Medialets

Jun 12

PC Tools Firewall Plus 3.0 – A Free Vista Firewall

Posted in: Features, Freeware, Newly Released, performance, Reviews, Screenshots, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on October 04, 2007 by CyberNet.

As it stands right now there are not many Vista-compatible firewalls available. PC Tools is coming through by not only offering one, but they are even making it free! A comment by bloodsugarwilksm convinced me to try out the new Firewall Plus 3.0 that was recently released, and before I get into some of the details I want to say that this firewall works with Windows XP, 2000, and Server 2003 in addition to Vista.

We included Firewall Plus 2.0 in our list of free antivirus, anti-spyware, and firewalls post that was done back in April, and even then it was the only Vista compatible firewall available. Now they have reached another big milestone, but you won’t notice any difference in the interface.

–What’s New in Firewall Plus 3.0?–

The PC Tools developers made changes where it matters most in a firewall: under-the-hood. Here’s a list of what’s new in version 3:

New Smart Application Rules
Firewall Plus now incorporates a set of new smart application rules, designed to make it simpler and easier for you to continue working with minimal interference from your Firewall. Technically, using the Application Rules, you can create a heuristic set of rules that control how applications are allowed to connect to the Internet/network and their permissions on your PC. If an application attempts to connect to the Internet/network and there are no corresponding rules, Firewall Plus will allow you to choose how the application should behave.
Stealth Mode protection
Firewall Plus provides you with extra protection via its Stealth Mode feature which enables your system to appear invisible to other computers in the network. When in Stealth Mode, your computer is able to make connections to other computers in the network, but Firewall Plus will prevent other computers from connecting with yours.
Data Validation using SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection)
Firewall Plus validates data using SPI – stateful packet inspection – in which it performs a protocol handshake and if successful allows data transfer, otherwise all traffic is blocked – ensuring no unauthorized data is transferred onto your computer.
Application protection
Firewall Plus offers additional application protection by guarding all the applications on your PC from unauthorized access. Enabling this option will shield applications on your system from other applications attempting to take control of them and potentially use them for malicious purposes.

–What I think about it–

I’ve always been a big fan of the Comodo Firewall because of its exceptional performance and outstanding protection, but I give a lot of credit to PC Tools for creating a very strong competing product. Firewall Plus takes up a mere 5MB of memory on my Vista machine, which I don’t feel bad dedicating to something as important as a firewall.

By default Firewall Plus is configured to show notifications that are stripped down to only the information casual users would care about. If you’re a power user that likes to see every little detail then there is an “Expert” mode in the settings. Despite being a power user myself I have found that the basic notifications are nice, clean, and setup so that you can quickly respond.

Am I going to use it myself? Actually I think that I will at least until something better comes along. My heart is still with Comodo, but I’m a bit weary running a beta build of their Vista-compatible version, which has been causing some blue screens of death for some users. I’m guessing that Comodo 3 will be out within the next month or two, and at that time I’ll reevaluate my firewall needs. Right now, however, Firewall Plus is what’s protecting my PC.

–Screenshots–

I’ll go ahead and wrap things up with several screenshots of the different areas in Firewall Plus 3:

Get PC Tools Firewall Here

Related Posts:

Apr 09

DIY footswitch for Ableton Live frees up your hands, makes you dangerous onstage

Posted in: diy, hack, Music, performance, Today's Chili

When Ableton forum member AlexMC came across plans for a no-fuss, no-muss USB foot controller for the company’s world-renowned music app, he liked what he saw — but not so much that he couldn’t make a few changes his own self. By adding a sturdy wooden case, a 30 degree pitch to the top of the thing, some extra buttons, and some razzle-dazzle (that’ll cost you extra) he now has a device that sports twenty buttons and a bank switch (making for forty unique outputs total), useful for things like play / record on individual tracks, stop / fade, and of course, everybody’s favorite — tap tempo. The best part? He built this bad boy for ten bucks! The excruciating step-by-step plans and photos (including circuit diagrams and all that jazz) are yours when you hit the read link below — and you’ll be mashing up Katy Perry and the Cure live on stage, while jamming along on your keytar, in no time. But please, don’t mash-up Katy Perry and the Cure.

[Via Make]

Filed under: Peripherals

DIY footswitch for Ableton Live frees up your hands, makes you dangerous onstage originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Hasta La Gadget!

AOL’s Free Active Virus Shield Ditches Kaspersky for McAfee

iPhone musicians invited to perform live with indie legends Good Night, States

iPhone 3GS Trounces Predecessors, Rivals in Web Browser Speed Test