Browsing the Web has become like walking down a carnival sideshow. Everywhere you turn, you're bombarded with come-ons. You know there's a catch to each and every pitch because these barkers are pros at separating you from your money.
The people offering free software and Web services appear to be taking lessons from retired carnies. Their offers are too good to be true—literally. Most of these folks are in business, after all, so they have to make money somehow.
And as they say, the most successful cons are the ones where the victim doesn't even know he or she has been conned at all.
Of course, the purveyors of these "free" services assert that there's nothing underhanded about their method of doing business. Many are up-front about their business model, whether it involves placing ads in their products and services, downloading unrelated browser toolbars along with their updates, charging only organizations who use the software while letting individuals have it for free, or offering only dumbed-down versions of the programs for free and requiring payment for access to all the products' features.
Still, sifting through the "free" claims to find the true price you pay for such products can be daunting. Anyone who has used the Internet for any length of time knows it pays to be skeptical. While there are hundreds—perhaps thousands—of truly free programs and services available on the Web, finding the best of them isn't always easy. And clicking the wrong free-download link can be downright dangerous.
One way to determine whether a program is really free is its use of the Free Software Foundation's GNU General Public License (GPL). The GNU GPL stipulates that the software can be used, copied, and distributed verbatim without limitation, though it cannot be changed. While you can usually get the source code of programs that adhere to the GNU GPL, the license differs somewhat from open-source software.
The Open Source Initiative defines 10 criteria that programs must follow to be considered "open source." Among these are that the software can be redistributed—whether sold or given away—without limitation, and that the source code be distributable as well. Such programs must also allow "modifications and derived works" that can be distributed under the same terms.
SourceForge provides the most comprehensive collection of open-source software for Windows, Linux, and other operating systems. The programs listed on the site are often poorly documented and may be labeled as "projects," so you may not want to pin your business's success on one of them.
In fact, you'll often find more complete reviews of the programs listed on SourceForge by searching for them on Download.com. For example, here's the SourceForge entry for the KeePass Password Safe password-management freeware, and the product's entry on Download.com.
Whose bandwidth is it, anyway?
My biggest beef with software vendors—whether they charge for their products or not—is their cavalier attitude toward our system resources. Microsoft ties up our PCs every second Tuesday of the month with multimegabyte Windows updates. But a more recent example is Apple's latest iTunes and QuickTime update, which comes in at a whopping 101.2MB download. Apple, Microsoft, and other software vendors repeatedly expect me to put my workday on hold and turn my system over to their monster updates.
Apple's iTunes + QuickTime updater wants to download more than 100MB of patches in the middle of my workday.
(Credit: Apple)Many antivirus and other security programs let you use them for free but request a donation—sometimes repeatedly. For example, InformAction's popular NoScript add-on for Firefox opens a page after each update that solicits donations.
Other times, the vendor offers a free version of their commercial products, but finding it on the company's site becomes a game of Where's Waldo? If you're looking for AVG Free, you'll find it much faster on Download.com than you would on AVG Technologies' site.
Perhaps the greatest danger when looking for free software is becoming a victim of rogue security programs. This form of malware tricks you into downloading it by promising free protection, and then it claims to have found viruses that aren't actually there. The software holds your system for ransom, requiring that you pay to "remove" the infection that the program itself created.
The best way to avoid such traps is to restrict your software downloads to sites such as Download.com that scan all the files they host for malware prior to offering them for download. Better yet, think twice or even three times before installing any program. Every piece of software you load on your PC comes at a price, even if it's just the time, effort, and bandwidth required to keep it up-to-date so it doesn't become a security weak point.
You may have noticed Elinor Mills' story out of this week's RSA security conference on an F-Secure researcher recommending that PC users avoid the Adobe Reader PDF program because of its unpatched vulnerabilities. The story includes a link to PDFreader.org's downloads of free Adobe Reader alternatives.
My favorite Adobe Reader alternative didn't make that list, however. Foxit Software has a reputation for patching its free Foxit Reader PDF program faster than Adobe plugs holes discovered in Reader.
It's starting to feel like keeping your software up-to-date is a full-time job. Last October, I described how to ensure that your copy of Windows is fully patched. That post includes a link to an article by Scott Dunn on troubleshooting Windows Update glitches. (Scroll down to "Tips for installing recalcitrant updates" about halfway through the article.)
Lots of PC experts recommend Secunia's free Online Software Inspector (OSI) and downloadable Personal Software Inspector application (free for home use). Unfortunately, the last time I used OSI, it kept listing my Flash player and Java installation as out-of-date when both were the latest releases. (See this post from last October on Michael Horowitz's Defensive Computing blog for more on problems with OSI.)
While popular programs such Mozilla's Firefox browser, Apple's QuickTime player, and Sun's Java runtime environment can be set to update automatically, the best way to ensure that your PC has the most recent versions of its software is to visit Download.com or the download page on the vendor's site and install any required updates manually. Here's where to find some of them:
• Adobe Flash Player version 10.0.22.87
• Apple QuickTime Player 7.6
• Sun Java Runtime Environment version 6 update 13
• Mozilla Firefox 3.0.9
The best way to update Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer, and other Windows components is via Microsoft's Windows Update service. Likewise, to keep your Office apps patched, browse to Microsoft Office Online's Downloads page and click the Office Update link in the left pane.
A couple of weeks ago, my notebook lost its ability to connect to AT&T's 3G data network. Downloading and installing the latest version of the company's communications management application restored the network link. (I had to use the notebook's built-in Wi-Fi adapter to download the program, of course.)
Just yesterday, my iPhone started acting up: the screen would freeze, and phone calls wouldn't hang up, among other symptoms. Once I connected the device to a PC and downloaded the most recent release of the iPhone software, the glitches disappeared.
If only all PC problems could be solved simply by reinstalling the software. It may be the shotgun approach to hardware and software troubleshooting, but sometimes a software refresh will clear out whatever cobwebs were futzing up the works.
You don't have to wait until your devices or applications start to act up to update them, however. Scanning your system for out-of-date programs can help you avoid trouble by pointing out the unpatched security holes on your PC.
In the past, I have recommended Secunia's online software scan and the PC-based version, the free Personal Software Inspector. I use Secunia's online scanner to get a snapshot of my software's update status. But rather than applying any necessary patches via Secunia's service, I go to the vendor's site to download the latest version.
Secunia's online software scanner will identify old, vulnerable versions of the applications installed on your PC.
(Credit: Secunia)For example, my most recent Secunia scan indicated that Apple's iTunes and QuickTime, Adobe Systems' Flash player, and Sun Microsystems' Java Platform were out-of-date. I opened the Apple Software Update app to get the latest versions of iTunes, QuickTime, and the Safari browser (which Secunia did not identify as out-of-date).
I also visited Adobe's site to get the latest release of the Flash player and Sun's site for a Java update, but Secunia's scanner still identified these programs as vulnerable. It turns out, the old versions of Flash and Java aren't uninstalled when the new versions are added.
You can remove old versions of the Flash player by downloading and running Adobe's Flash Player Uninstaller (scroll to the bottom of the page to find the uninstaller download).
The Java site claims that you should retain old versions of the Java Runtime Environment because some older apps may be incompatible with more recent releases. Still, if you're running out of disk space, you can remove old Java versions via Windows' Add or Remove Programs Control Panel applet (or Vista's Programs and Features).
On my year-old notebook, there are six different Java versions, each using about 136MB of disk space. To play it safe, keep at least the last two Java releases installed.
Secunia's online scanner gives you the option of checking "Enable thorough system inspection" to have the scanner look for applications in nondefault locations. Using this option can add several minutes to the scan--with the option unchecked, the scan usually takes only a few seconds to complete.
The in-depth scan did uncover a handful of outdated applications on my PC that the online scanner missed, though none posed the same security threat as the old versions of the iTunes/QuickTime and Flash player did. Still, the patches are free, so why not?
For the last couple of months, I have been trying to find the source of an intermittent glitch with my notebook PC's wireless connection. I would often lose Internet access when waking the system from sleep mode: the network icon in the system tray indicated "Local only."
Restarting the machine restored the wireless link, but then why use sleep mode at all? After a little trial-and-error (mostly the latter), I decided to check the age of the device driver for the notebook's wireless adapter. Not surprisingly, the driver was slightly older than the machine itself, which I bought last fall.
I found a newer version of the driver on the notebook vendor's site. It took only a few minutes to download and install the update. After restarting the system, I put the machine to sleep by pressing the Windows key, the right arrow, and Enter. When I woke it up by pressing Enter again, the network icon showed a little blue globe in its bottom-right corner to indicate that I had an Internet connection.
That driver update turned out so well I decided to check the other refreshes available for my notebook. I noticed one for the video adapter that was said to fix a problem with streaming Internet videos. Bonus! I decided to call it quits after those two updates lest something goes wrong and I'm left wondering which update is the cause.
Here are a few other driver-update precautions:
Get your drivers from the PC vendor.
System vendors often customize the drivers for their machines. In fact, when I searched for a driver update on the site of the company that made my notebook's video adapter, I was politely instructed to look on the notebook vendor's site for the appropriate update. A link would've been nice, but I'm not complaining.
Stick with updating only the devices that are acting up.
The old "ain't broke-don't fix" rule applies here. Even a two- or three-year-old PC will likely get along fine with the original driver for its hard drive, though a BIOS refresh might be helpful. As in my case, video cards and wireless-network adapters are likely to benefit most from a new driver.
Create a restore point.
Windows XP and Vista will likely create one for you before the new driver is installed, but to play it safe, set one yourself via System Restore and give it a descriptive name just in case you forget when exactly you loaded the update. Do not rely on Windows' Roll Back Driver function under the Driver tab in the Device Manager Properties dialog box. Likewise, run the update's own installer rather than using Properties' Update Driver button.
Don't count on the "Roll Back Driver" option in Windows' Device Manager Properties dialog; create a restore point instead.
(Credit: Microsoft)
Update your drivers one at a time.
As I mentioned above, if you load several updates in quick succession and something goes wrong, it can be difficult to figure out which update is the troublemaker.
You probably don't need to pay for a software-update service.
This is another one for the "ain't broke-don't fix" category. If you've got so much software on your PC that you need a service to track it, maybe you should think about simplifying your life--or at least the tech part of it. Most PC users can manage their software updates on their own, with a little help from the vendors.
You can get your Microsoft Office updates automatically via the Windows Update service, and other major applications offer similar auto-update functions. Likewise, Flash, QuickTime, and other media players can be set to update automatically, as can Firefox and other browsers (IE 7 updates along with Windows). Last month, I described ways to manage Windows Updates and to keep Apple's Safari from being offered as part of the company's iTunes and QuickTime updates.
I use Apple's Safari browser on my iPhone but don't have much use for it on my Windows PCs. I do run iTunes and QuickTime on the Windows systems, so every time there's an update for one of those apps, I'm prompted to download Safari.
A quick tweak of the Apple Software Update utility makes the Safari prompts history.
Open the Apple Software Update application via its shortcut on the Start menu. To set the updater to stop nagging you about Safari, check the browser's option in the main window, and click Tools > Ignore Selected Updates. Then click Quit.
Set the Apple Software Update utility to ignore the Safari browser.
(Credit: Apple)Alternatively, you can change how frequently the program checks for updates or stop it from checking automatically. Click Edit > Preferences and choose Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Never. When you're done, click OK and Quit.
Change how frequently Apple Software Update checks for updates, or set it not to check at all.
(Credit: Apple)Now you'll get the Apple updates you need on your schedule without having to uncheck options for programs you don't want.
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