Macintouch: Boot Camp and AVG Free edition

Macintouch an excellent OS X Boot Camp report. If I had an Intel Mac, I'd wait for the next release of the Boot Camp beta.

The article also includes a mini-essay by Henry Norr, a well known Mac guru -- on Windows antiviral solutions. I'm no fan of NAV, so I'm interested ...

... . After trying all the major commercial anti-virus products for XP - most recently TrendMicro's - I have for the last six months or so been running something called AVG Free Edition from Grisoft

http://www.grisoft.com/doc/289/lng/us/tpl/tpl01

I recommend it highly for home users. (According to the terms, "AVG Free Edition is for private, non-commercial, single home computer use only. Use of AVG Free Edition within any organization or for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited.")

It's updated every day if necessary, automatically if you configure it that way, and it's very unobtrusive. I have no way of testing the protection it purports to provide, but the reviews put it in the same league as the top commercial products. Complete system scans are slower than with Trend Micro, etc., but since I have it set to do those in the middle of the night, it doesn't bother me. The free version is limited to one automatic update per day (!), so in theory you could be vulnerable to a new virus appearing between one update and the next, but the odds of catching a new virus on the very day of its release are pretty slim, especially if you practice basic principles of safe computing such as those Bruce outlines...

I left out the parts where Norr blames Windows users for not sufficiently securing their systems -- while denying he's doing so. Sometimes smart people can be pretty dumb.

Another writer mentions that XP rots relatively slowly if it's off the net. I think that's true; I've kept installs working for years. It's annoying that it rots at all, but I do fear that after 2 years of my laptop's install I'll need to schedule three days for a refresh and reinstall. (I have a lot of complex software on this machine, and a lot of complex configuration.)

Firefox Guide

will langford's Firefox Guide is rather plain, but it's hard to find this information elsewhere. Currently slashdotted.

Nothing beside remains: Software long gone

We moved last year, and before the move I dumped boxes of 5.25" floppy (really floppy) disks. I made a quick list of what I tossed, and in memory to old software long forgotten, here it is.

Each of these products represented immense efforts, and all of them were commercially successful. Few are in use now, and even fewer are remembered. As each died thousands of old documents and files became unreadable and worthless.

Volkswriter: My first PC wordprocessor; prior to it I used
Grammatik: standalone DOS grammar checker
PFS First Publisher: ancestor to Apple's Pages
Harvard Graphics: create charts
Q & A: wordprocessing and lightweight database
Smart Software (Integrated: DB, WP, Spreadsheet): powerful and obscure
Sidekick: TSRs were awful. Truly awful.
Enable: Another integrated app. Wordprocessing, database, etc. Only Office survived.
WordPerfect, WP Editor, WP Library, DataPerfect: Remember the WP suite? DataPerfect was pretty bad. The WP Editor was excellent.
Reflex: Innovative database/analytics tool
Copy II PC: Before DRM, there was copy protection. Hence Copy II to break it.
PC File: Original shareware appl.
Quattro Pro: Borland's spreadsheet. Later bundled with WordPerfect.
Laplink: Connect machines before LANs
Grateful Med: PubMed is the inferior replacement
MS DOS 2.11: There grew the dark seeds of Gates' power.
DesqView and QEMM 386: The Horror, the Horror.
MS DOS "Leading Edge": Leading Edge had its moment of glory.
Software Carousel: Switch applications, not multitasking. Actually worked.
GeoWorks Ensemble: Shining moment of hope. Microsoft squashed it like a bug.
PFS First Write: another early wordprocessor
Norton Utilities: many versions, this was once a great product. Hard to believe!
Reams of medical software:
Cyberlog, Discotest, Grateful Med, PDQ, EpiInfo, Medical Letter Drug Interaction
Chessmaster
Sim City: This game is still around.
Falcon F-16
Turbo Pascal, C, C++: Those were Borland's salad days
Fastback: defrag
Spinrite: still in business I think ...
BBeard.arc: A BBS software package, from the modem days.
Procomm Plus: remember modems?
Ready 1.0: original outliner
GrandView: outliner/database
Folio Views: a wonderful product that fell when the web rose.
Norton NDOS (replaced command.com)
Norton Commander version 1, 2, and 3: never equalled. NCMail was my favorite email client for many years.
Magic Cap/General Magic (including letter reaffirming firm commitment from Apple)
Reference Manager: still around I think.

Yes, we do need standard document formats.

Firefox Google Toolbar updated

Google Toolbar for Firefox

It's now feature equivalent to the beta IE toolbar. Nice upgrade.

Boot Camp: inviting the devil into one's home

The Register outlines an imaginary future for Apple, now that Apple is providing the Boot Camp utility to support dual booting Apple hardware to XP or OS X. The real risk comes if Leopard really does run using virtualization technology, allowing Vista software to run seamlessly alongside OS X. At that point it's all too easy for Adobe or Microsoft to write XP software that fits that virtualization layer, rather than write OS X software.

It's a genuine risk, the counterbalancing force being that Apple is increasingly writing its own software for OS X. Aperture is a mean competitor to Photoshop for many users.

I hope it goes well. From my perspective it means if my old XP desktop ever chokes, it will be replaced by a MacBook. Similarly if I ever decide I need a Vista machine, it will be made by Apple.

Company that buys iBooks for parts

PowerBook Parts, and Repair Manuals - PowerBook Tech will buy an iBook for parts. My G3 is dying the hinge death, between the Airport card, the memory upgrade and the new battery and new 40GB drive I figure I might get $200 or so. Money to put against the replacement machine.

iBook: hinge of death

My G3 dual USB iBook is on its last legs. The drive died last year and I replaced it, but that was probably a mistake. Now the display is getting dimmer and the hinge is very stiff; these are known symptoms of a design defect that affects iBooks.

The G3 iBook has about a three year lifespan with average use. I think I fell a bit short of that, but I used it very heavily. Three years is the range of AppleCare coverage; if AppleCare service was higher quality I'd get it for my next iBook. Alas, it is not.

I'd hoped I'd make it to the Intel ibook, but the roll out of the Intel MacBook Pro has been so troubled I figure I'll just buy a G4 iBook. The old one may end up attached to an LCD panel in the kitchen, or it may just be junked.

I wouldn't mind a four year lifespan for a laptop, three is a bit short. My old PowerBook 165 lasted about five years, but nobody makes anything that reliable any more.

Update 4/2/06: Macintouch has the best information on this. Nobody mentioned iGlide in that query, it does show up in the few remaining Apple discussion posts on this (they archive older posts and there are few G3s left). WD-40 is a bad idea, it destroys the plastic. I wonder if iGlide is just Teflon spray but I may give it a try. I'll try loosening the bolts slightly to each side of the hinge then spraying it.

Update 4/9/06: Tried iGlide. It had no effect. The instructions require one to remove the rubber feet and loosen the associated screws, that broke 2 of the 3 feet. I sort of expected that from past experience, crazy glue holds them on now.

Update 4/11/06: Oddly, the function is now improving. It just took a couple of days. Crazy glue works well on those iBook feet ...

Update 5/11/06: Still works fine. I sent the company a note saying how pleased I was. I did mention the feet braking, and they sent me a set of replacements. The crazy glue will likely last the lifetime of the iBook, but that's impressive. They also gave me a strong hint of where the lubricant comes from. No, it's not WD-40 -- that would dissolve the plastic. I won't repeat it (sorry), but the source is consistent with the successful results I saw.

Update 11/18/06: The hinge is again in bad shape, and now the cracks are growing and the alignment is off. The treatment gave me 6 months, time enough for the MacBook Core Duo 2 to come out. Worth it really, but not a cure. I suspect the hinges go when some teflon like surface wears off; they probably can't be cost-effectively repaired. I could probably reapply and get some more time, but instead we leave the iBook permanently open. It's not bad for carrying around the house.