| Last
Month….
We
had an evening of problem solving, it was an open discussion with
no one person leading the discussion. The topics covered ranged
from problems installing a new printer through to the merits of
using Ebay and associated problems with Ebay. Many members had
the opportunity to express there views.
Microsoft's
OneCare to Go Live
Desktop antivirus software to cost $49.95 per year for up to three
PCs.
Microsoft will complete its entry into the desktop security market
with the general release of its Windows Live OneCare antivirus
software.
OneCare, which also includes backup and PC-tuning software, has
been available for free in beta form since November, but will
shortly be able to purchase the final, supported product, according
to sources familiar with Microsoft's plans.
OneCare will be available as a per year license, which will cover
as many as three Windows XP PCs. That means 98 percent of homes
will be able to buy one subscription and be able to cover all
of their PCs.
A spokesperson for Microsoft's public relations agency declined
to comment for this story except to confirm that the product would
be available for purchase from the Web and in retail stores in
the next few weeks.
Three Apps in OneCare
OneCare includes firewall, antivirus, and backup software, as
well as Microsoft's Windows Defender antispyware technology. The
product also takes care of routine maintenance tasks such as defragmenting
the hard disk and cleaning up unused temporary files.
Microsoft portrays OneCare as part of a new category of "PC
care" products that handle technically challenging tasks.
But analysts say that the product clearly targets the antivirus
market, dominated by companies such as Symantec, McAfee, and Trend
Micro.
"This is really competing head-on with the antivirus vendors,"
said Andrew Jaquith, senior analyst with Yankee Group Research.
Symantec
Anxious
Market leader Symantec, which sued Microsoft recently claiming
misappropriation of intellectual property, is clearly anxious
about the software giant's entry into its market space.
Company executives have said that they expect to compete against
Microsoft by offering superior technology and staying one step
ahead of their new competitor. "Microsoft is very much focusing
on the old-world problems of viruses and worms," according
to Symantec Chief Financial Officer James Beer, speaking Monday
at the JP Morgan Technology Conference, in San Francisco. "We're
focusing on what we would call the new-world problems."
Symantec is readying an alternative to OneCare, code-named project
Genesis, which is expected to ship by year's end. And the company's
next generation of security products will concentrate on preventing
things such as cybercrime and identity theft, Beer said.
Tough to Convince Users
Though Microsoft's size alone makes it a formidable competitor,
analyst Michael Cherry says the company has no special advantage
when it comes to the hardest part of selling antivirus software:
convincing users to renew subscriptions.
Cherry, with the online newsletter Directions on Microsoft, estimates
that 60 percent of antivirus users decline to renew their software
licenses. "I don't see how Microsoft can nag people any more
than Symantec or McAfee," he adds.
OneCare is presently available only to U.S. residents. The software
is being beta-tested by hundreds of thousands of users. The beta
software can be downloaded here.
Home
Networking
I
was recently asked to help someone set up home networking and
thought it might be of interest to others. Several of us may have
two or more PC’s and want to share files, printers and even
the Internet connection.
Networking
support has been built into all Windows versions since 3.11. On
W2K and XP it is normally installed by default, but 3.11/95/98/Me
may need some additional drivers etc installed from the Windows
CD.
The
key to the connectivity is a home router. These can be bought
for around £50-60, and usually provide 4 Ethernet ports
and often a wireless connection as well. There are two types of
router, and which one you get will depend on how your Internet
connection is provided. There are several different wireless standards,
with 802.11g which supports up to 54mbps being the most common.
Older routers may only support 802.11b which has a maximum speed
of 11 mbps.
If
your broadband connection is via your phone line, i.e. ADSL, you
will need an either ADSL modem with an Ethernet connection to
connect to your router, or a router with an ADSL modem built in.
This will have a telephone type RJ11 socket for the connection
to the phone line. If you have NTL cable with broadband via the
Set top box or cable modem with an Ethernet port, you will need
a cable modem/router. Both types of modem normally provide DHCP
functionality to allocate IP addresses and also include a hardware
firewall.
Firstly
a little about IP addressing. In order to communicate, each separate
device must have it’s own “unique” IP address,
and they must follow some rules. Your internet connection will
be allocated an IP address by your ISP, and your home router will
usually take care of addresses within your network. Although all
addresses must be unique, the router will shield your LAN from
the rest of the world, and there are some special ranges of addresses
defined for use in private networks. The normal range used is
one of the 192.168.0.* - 192.168.255.*. Most home routers use
192.168.0.* or 192.168.1.*. In either case the subnet mask will
be 255.255.255.0 which means that you can have up to 254 devices
connected together. More than enough for most of us!
The
first stage is to get your Internet connection working with the
router and just one PC. Connect the PC to a LAN port on the router
using an Ethernet cable, one is usually supplied with each router.
Switch on both the PC and router, and check whether you have connectivity
to the router, by checking if you have been assigned an IP address.
( On W2K/XP, run “ipconfig” from a command prompt,
on 95/98/Me, run “Winipcfg” from the Run command).
You should get a display something like this:-
The
IP address you get may be different, but the Subnet Mask should
be 255.255.255.0, and the Default gateway will be the address
of your router, typically 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.2.1,
depending on the make of your router
Now connect your router to the phone/cable line and configure
the router for your Internet connection. Using a browser, connect
to http://192.168.0.1 or whatever address was shown for your default
gateway. This should bring up a signon menu, check the router
documentation for the default password, it is usually either “admin”,
“password” or “1234”.
Follow
the prompt or manual to set up your Internet connection information,
i.e. the username and password that your ISP gave you. Once this
is setup, and you have saved the configuration, try connecting
to the Internet.
Assuming
this is working correctly, now connect the other PC’s using
Ethernet cables to the router. You will need a Network card for
each machine, wired or wireless, although most laptops now have
wireless networking built in and will not need another card. PCI
Ethernet cards can be bought for less than £10, whilst wifi
cards are about £25.
To
connect a laptop, you will need to configure wireless networking
in the router. Initially, I suggest that you get it working without
any security, but once the laptop is connected, you can enable
security on both the router and the laptop. Given the choice,
opt for WPA-PSK encryption. This requires a 63 or 64 bit key and
is more secure than the older WEP encryption. Some Windows 95/98/Me
machines may only support WEP unless you install a third party
encryption package. If you want a truly random WPA key, you can
generate one at https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm. Keep a record
of this as you cannot find out the value later!.
At
the end, you should have a network looking something like this:-
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