Find Legitimate Free Antivirus Software

By S. Michele Wallace

Computers are an essential part of many people's day to day lives. Contracting a computer virus can cripple your ability to communicate with others or earn a living. Luckily many sources are available to find free antivirus software that will allow you to protect your investment.

Sources for finding free antivirus software online are plentiful. Here are some suggestions for the best free software to prevent computer viruses.

Spybot Search and Destroy and Malwarebytes are two very popular antivirus programs which are available for free download. They are targeted towards spyware and Trojans. These types of programs are less visible to the naked eye than some viruses. They can be downloaded without your knowledge and hidden on your computer.

Another great option for antivirus software is Avast. Avast is geared more towards traditional viruses and operates through a search and destroy type method of virus hunting. A product like Avast can work well in tandem with software like Spybot and Malwarebytes. Installing both types of programs can provide extra protection for your computer. Searching for all types of damaging programs increases your protection.

If you're unsure about downloading software and consider yourself a very basic computer user, Microsft Security Essentials can be a great option. It is a brand new product from Microsoft that combines spyware and antivirus protection. The program is free for home and home business users of Windows XP and beyond. It runs itself and does a good job without much interaction.

If you're a more tech savvy user, a product like Comodo Antivirus can be very effective. This program is very vocal, and pops up a lot of messages for permissions when you're using your computer. If you're using Windows Vista you have probably noticed the numerous permissions pop ups. If you dislike them or are annoyed by them, this probably isn't the best antivirus software for you.

Finding legitimate sources for free antivirus software can be a challenge. It is important to make sure you are downloading a reputable, trustworthy program. Rogue anti-virus software usually appears as a fake Windows warning on your computer. It will tell you about the dozens or hundreds of viruses it's detected, and ask you to purchase the full version of the antivirus software.

In reality, if you click to purchase, you will be downloading what is also known as scareware or malware. It's a program specifically designed to damage or disrupt your computer system. In addition, they are trying to take your money through an unsecure credit card purchase. The best way to avoid downloading rogue anti-virus software is to know which antivirus software you installed, and avoid purchasing or clicking on any notifications that are not from that software.

What should you do if you ever get a pop up or notification that looks legitimate but does not look like the antivirus software you use? Immediately scan your computer using your legitimate antivirus software. It's important to know which programs you've installed on your computer since people who make viruses and rogue software are very good at making them look legitimate.

What if you suspect that your computer has already contracted a virus? You can download the free versions of Spybot Search and Destroy, Malwarebytes or Spyware Doctor and run them. They will not interfere with your current or previously installed antivirus programs.

Super Antispyware is a good program to download if you suspect you already have a virus. It can be more effective at evading detection by spyware that is already on your machine. If you run a spyware scan and your computer locks up, shuts down, or the program closes, it is a good idea to seek immediate technical support.

If you're unsure which free antivirus software to choose, message boards, forums and reviews are a great source. Find people who use their computer similarly to how you do, and see what they've found to work best. That way you can get good information and start protecting your computer immediately.

Learn more about computer antivirus programs at Buzz on IT. Buzz on IT provides information based on more than 20 years of experience and a dedication to educating people on the dangers of computer viruses and how to avoid them.

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IPv6 Tutorial

By Bryan Waters

IPv6 is an ever-emerging star of the Internet. Several years ago, when the protocol started to be drafted, it immediately entered under every spotlight available in IT. Back then, the perspective of not having any more IPv4 addresses to assign seemed horrifying: nobody was ready for it, and there were quite a few people who expected the Internet to be dead and buried in a few months.

The fears seemed to be premature back then. Indeed, five years after news of IPv6 started grabbing the headlines, the perspective of IPv4 depletion is still at least five years away. This does serve IANA's purposes: the migration is slow and gradual.

But most important, the migration is not determined only by the depletion problem. IPv6 offers several advantages of its own, besides the much larger address space, which ensures that IPv6 addresses will certainly not be depleted anywhere in the following decades.

What are these advantages? The IPv6 protocol includes many innovations, along with some features that are present in IPv4, but were developed after the IPv4 protocol itself. The most important of these are link-local addresses, jumbograms, link-layer level error checking, as well as native support for multicasting and network-layer security.

Link-local addresses are also present in IPv4. These are special addresses used in addition to global addresses, which applications can use. Link-local addresses are always present and never change, greatly simplifying the configuration and routing protocols.

Jumbograms are very large packets, potentially much larger than the IPv4-standard 64 kB packets. In a network, the data stream is not continuous, but discrete, carried using so-called packets, standard-sized pieces of information, which include not only the information itself, but also other details used for routing, error checking and so on. When IPv4 was designed, 64 kB packets were practical enough. Today, however, something as simple as a photograph requires hundreds of packets, each containing more than just the information. Thus, some traffic is, essentially, "wasted". Jumbograms come to alleviate this: since several hundreds of KiB (or even more - up to 4 GB) can be packed into a single packet, the transfer of large files requires fewer packets, and hence less traffic used for something else than information. Furthermore, jumbograms can considerably simplify the design of protocols and low-level applications.

Unlike IPv4, IPv6 does not rely on network-level checksum fields to ensure that information is correctly transmitted. When IPv4 was designed, the network infrastructure was less reliable than today, meaning that errors were often occurring during transmission. It is thought that errors are much less common today, and thus, it makes sense to transfer error-checking to transport layers (protocols like TCP or UDP). As a consequence, IPv6 is quite easier to implement - an important advantage in the development of embedded systems, like network-enabled house appliances.

Finally, IPv6 has native support for IPsec, a network-layer encryption and authentication protocol. Unlike IPv4, IPv6 requires that this protocol is implemented.

IPv6 under Windows

Configuring Windows for IPv6 support is not very difficult. In fact, if you have Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, you need not do anything - IPv6 is already there and enabled. Due to IPv6's support for link-local addresses and DHCP, chances are you do not even need to go through any additional configuration tasks.

If you are using Windows XP, you will have to install the IPv6 protocol first. To do so, open the Command Prompt (Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt) and type:

C:>netsh interface ipv6 install

To make sure that the installation has been successful, run ipconfig. The output should include a list of IPv6 addresses, along with some other IPv6 and IPv4-related output. It may look quite similar to this:

c:>ipconfig

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : iptest.example.com

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.123.254

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.252.0

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:db8:8311:f282:2461:6134:a4a7:faa7

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:db8:8311:f282:a451:f134:64a1:b944

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:db8:8311:f282:651:f5ff:ab05:ac75

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0::f282:200:ab8a:ab3e:fc61%1

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::200:ab8a:ab3e:fc61%4

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.123.254

fe80::210:ffff:fed6:61c0%4

In most IPv6 networks, it is highly unlikely that you will need to change the IPv6 address. However, if you need to, you can do so by running the following command in the Command Prompt:

c:>netsh interface ipv6 add (address)

replacing (address) with the IPv6 you want to use.

IPv6 under Linux

Most Linux distributions come with an IPv6-ready kernel and userpace toolset. If you are using an older distribution, or if you have compiled the kernel manually, you may want to check that IPv6 support is available. If it does, your /proc filesystem will include the file /proc/net/if_inet6. If it is not, it means you need to load the IPv6 module, or, if it is not available, to recompile the kernel.

Loading the IPv6 modprobe is done by running modprobe:

$ modprobe ipv6

The module will be loaded if it exists. If not, you will have to recompile the kernel, or at least update it. Generally, updating the kernel is the easiest solution if your distribution allows you to. You will hardly find a single Linux distribution not supporting IPv6 by default. Otherwise, you will have to recompile your kernel for IP support. The list of options should include packet socket, Unix domain sockets, kernel/user netlink socket, routing messages, tcp/ip networking, the ipv6 protocol (compiled as a module if you want) and /proc filesystem support.

After enabling IPv6 support by loading the IPv6 module (if you have compiled IPv6 directly into the kernel, then you need not load the module - IPv6 support is already there), you can test your configuration by running ifconfig. The output should include lines like the following:

$ ifconfig

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1C:42:D9:33:65

(some output omitted)

inet6 addr: 2001:a50:3450:1:20A:cbff:facf:9d0a/64 Scope:Global

inet6 addr: fe80::108:c75f:fedf:9d0a/64 Scope:Link

(some output omitted)

The lines that start with inet6 are the ones important.

Should you enable IPv6?

If you use IPv6 in a network, the answer is yes, definitely. IPv6 greatly simplifies network configuration - since it is so easy to assign dynamic addresses and since many of the IPv4-related hassles are gone, you hardly ever need to touch your TCP/IP configuration with IPv6.

However, if you do not use it at all, disabling it may slightly improve your network performances. Nevertheless, chances are you do not need to do it. Keeping it is a better bet.

Bryan Waters has been developing software for over two decades and has written numerous technical articles on all aspects of the software industry as well as several books that are currently available on Amazon.com covering topics such as Windows software development, PHP and web services. He currently blogs his opinions and thoughts on technology at http://abwaters.com/.

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Who is Craig's List?

Craigs List (craigslist.com) is now a major power in on-line marketing. Some of the company's biography is well known. Craig Newmark started Craigs List in 1995 as an email distribution list of San Francisco area friends. The growth has been astonishingly rapid. From an initial base of 10 cities in the year 2000, today, the entire country is serviced, and internationally, more than 50 countries are listed.



Craigs List only employs about 30 people. Though most of its advertisements are free, it does charge for employment ads in some geographic areas, for example, $75 for an ad in San Francisco, and $25 per ad in 9 other cities.



About 30 percent of Craig's List total revenues are derived from "Sex Advertisements" (Huffington Post, June 28, 2010). Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin has asked Craigs List to stop (unwittingly) enabling child prostitution through its classified ads. Visitors to the Craigslist adult services section "will see what clearly are children up for sale," said Malika Saar, the executive director of the Rebecca Project for Human Rights. Pedophilia has become an inseparable facet of the Craig's List self-identity.



Craigs List has become very popular with shoppers and browsers. The website receives about twenty billion page views per month (37th place overall among web sites worldwide and seventh most popular English-language website in the world (Alexa.com)). With over eighty million new classified advertisements each month, Craigs List is the leading classifieds service in any medium. The site receives over two million new job listings each month, making it one of the top job boards in the world. The classified advertisements range from traditional buy/sell ads and community announcements to personal ads and adult services (previously erotic services).



Craig Newmark's father was a New Jersey insurance executive, and he grew up a self admitted social outcast ("I had some developmental issues. Being a nerd, I had some problems getting along with other kids”). After a 17 year stint at IBM, where he was mistreated by managers (according to Anthony Batt, Craig's close friend), Craig migrated to San Francisco to work for the Charles Schwab brokerage.



Craig's List' tendency toward anti-social behavior, the encouragement of pedophilia and sexual deviancy, the lackluster management of fraudulent operations, etc., all may have their root in Mr. Newmark's own deviancy.



"He put my picture on Craigslist, and I was sold for sex by the hour at truck stops and cheap motels, 10 hours with 10 different men every night. This became my life. Men answered the Craigslist ads and paid to rape me."


The newspaper industry has also been a victim of the Craigs List business success. Newspapers are dependent for as much as 50% of total advertising revenue from their classified advertising, and Craigslist has had a significant impact in their ability to market their product. A Study in Northern California showed that local newspapers were losing as much as $50 million a year in revenue to Craigslist.



The Craigs List website is notable for having undergone only minor design changes in the last 15 years. Even by 1996 standards, the site is very primitive. Craigs List uses only minimal CSS and JavaScript, a design philosophy once common 15-20 years prior, but highly unusual today. The security system Craig's List employs is a hodgepodge of independent monitoring modules which can often interact with unintended effects.



Recently, several states have sued Craig's List in an effort to encourage the operation to become more responsible, especially in the area of commercial pedophilia. Craig's List has responded by replacing the Professional Sex link with the word "Censored". It would seem that management of Craig's List is offended by the government's coercion.



Craig's List benefits by it location. Craigslist headquarters is in the Sunset District of San Francisco, not far from Golden Gate Park. The extremely permissive attitude of the San Fransisco community, in which almost anything sexual, including pedophilia, sodomy, etc. is tolerated.

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Who is Zip Express?

Zip Express (ZEI, www.zipexpressinstallation.com) was originally known as "OnCall Installs". The company began operations in June 2007, and changed their name in June 2008. The company provides services for computers and consumer electronics, and does about a third of their service calls "next day".

ZEI is focused on providing field services for retailers, and currently has service agreements with Target, Circuit City, Office Depot, Amazon.com, BJ’s Wholesale Club, and TigerDirect.com. In that role, they compete head-to-head with Geek Squad from Best Buy. With the industry consolidation, there has been a vacuum created, and ZEI is competing to fill that void.

The president of ZEI is Chris Mauzy, whose resume includes work as the Director of Installation Services at Ultimate Electronics, and as the Director of Business Development at Best Buy.

With the closing of CompUSA and Circuit City, there are opportunities for companies like ZEI. Circuit City Stores Inc. plans to sell its brand, trademarks and e-commerce business to Systemax Inc., the same company that purchased CompUSA's intellectual property when it closed in 2008. While the brick and mortar stores are closed, these companies will continue as a web-only entity, but this is in name only. The original organizations are gone.

"Zip Express also provides attractive margins for retailers by offering additional sales revenue on top of the product at checkout." ZEI Press Release (6/4/2008)

ZEI differentiates itself from their competitors with the way it markets it's product. For example, Geek Services companies typically charge by the hour. ZEI instead will charge X dollars per service (for example, $129 for a computer monitor installation). It is easier for retailers to accomodate the Zip Express model. (see Amazon reviews)

Zip Express now often supplements their own contractor group with technicians from OnForce. ServiceMagic, a division of IAC (NSDQ: IACI), is an investor in Zip Express.

Zip Express has earned the Geeks Informed Smell Test rating of Smells OK.


Mailing Address:

Zip Express
3033 Excelsior Blvd; Suite 470
Minneapolis, MN 55416

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China and the West During the Nanjing Decade

By Luthor Laine

The period between 1927 and 1949 saw the process of decolonization in China, a process which had eventually reached its conclusion in 1998. China experienced, during this time, a long and arduous period of modernization. In reference to the causes of the suffering experienced during this transformation in China, MacKerras argued that "The history of modern China shows ample shame and humiliation at the hands of foreign imperialism. Yet the causes of China's problems were essentially internal". This is a questionable statement. There is no denying that China has, during the early half of the 20th century, faced much internal strife and adversity. But to put the blame of China's problems to only the internal social structure during this time might lack depth in helping us to understand the root cause of China's difficulty with modernization - that of European colonialism, or more specifically, Westernization.

China's problems during the era of revolution, while for the most part detached from foreign influence, would not have occurred were it not for the foreign activity that was occurring in China since several decades earlier, during the Nanjing Decade, and prior to the establishment of the CCP government in 1949. One could be inclined to agree, after reading historical facts between 1927 and 1949, that the idea of wayward foreigners managing to cause such chaos in China's social structure bears insignificance, using reasoning based on the scarcity of foreign influence in China, and the lack of important or historical events that involved foreigners. The impact of the West during such a time, one may think, seems like it has been blown out of proportion by some Western historians.

Moreover, it can also be argued easily that foreigners did not play such a critical role in the involvement of China's affairs since 1927 because of the presence of Chiang Kai Shek's nationalist Guomindang government and its lack of interest in foreign affairs (Chiang himself was popularly considered an "anti-colonial hero" in China.) Vervoorn makes a double-edged argument by introducing us to the study of Asian Societies with the following statement: It is tempting, especially for Westerners, to assume that contemporary Asian societies can be understood without a knowledge of their social, economic and political traditions. 'Modern' or 'contemporary' Asia, it is sometimes asserted, begins with Western influences anyway, and one needs to know no more about local traditions than that they are an obstacle to progress, that is, to Westernization. Were this true, it would be gratifying for those Westerners who like to see themselves as the vanguard of civilization, and make international understanding much easier (we could no longer call it cross-cultural understanding)...however, nothing could be further from the truth. Vervoorn is non-committal about this argument by further stating that:"Theories, methods of interpretation, strategies for understanding, and philosophical approaches... date as facts do, but if they are worth anything they will now greater resistance to historical wear and tear."

It is indisputable that China experienced many problems during the first half of the 20th century, both from external and internal sources. China, despite boasting a civilization spanning about 5,000 years, struggled to modernize. The process of modernization in China was a long and painful one, involving many wars, uprisings, rebellions and revolution. MacKerras tells us that: The first half of the twentieth century... was a period when modernization became accepted as an ideal by governments... It saw great reforms at least attempted, albeit haltingly, in several major fields... Above all this period saw the continuation and climax of a revolutionary process that had begun in the middle of the nineteenth century. It is in my view that while it is true that the Chinese faced much adversary and struggle internally from during the rule of the Kuomintang, the root cause of the painful process of modernization was actually instigated by the West.

It is a popular argument among scholars that China has been the main victim of Western Imperialism. MacKerras tells us that in China, during the period from 1900 to 1949, we "saw the first serious flowering of the forces we associate with modernity". As it is held that modernization is directly related to Westernization, we can apply this idea to the situation in question: According to Vervoorn, it is widely held that "'Modern' or 'contemporary' Asia... begins with Western influences". Vervoorn backs up the idea of modernization equating to westernization by further stating that "some see [the globalization process] positively and describe it in terms such as development, modernization, progress. Others see it negatively and use the words such as Westernization, imperialism, neocolonialism".

Knight has also argued that most of Asia (especially China, in this case), has been, and is still "strongly influenced in numerous ways... by forces outside the region". Knight also asserts in his book Understanding Australia's Neighbours that China was "heavily influenced by the activities of the colonial powers", and in a later chapter reinforces that idea by mentioning that "no region can remain immune from international forces". The level of impact the West has made has justified the extent to which such an idea has been mentioned. Knight describes the impact by making the following statement: "European colonialism from the sixteenth century, while sporadic and uneven in effect, cumulatively exerted a profound impact on the region... European imports [such as nationalism and the concept of the nation-state] had a dramatic influence on the countless millions of people who lived in East and Southeast Asia".

Knight wrote that "some historians have argued that it is incorrect to interpret the history of East and Southeast Asia, from 1498 to the mid 1950's, as nothing more than the history of European colonialism, with the history of East and Southeast Asia limited to a response to this external influence". These scholars may be correct in their interpretation of modern history in Asia, as Knight presents a plethora of evidence to suggest so. Knight also makes a compelling argument by mentioning to us that we shouldn't view the impact of the West as having either too adverse or too little adverse effect on Asia countries (such as China): "The... history of East and Southeast Asia cannot... be adequately understood without some comprehension of the history of colonialism and the response of many Asian people to the disruption, oppression and exploitation which colonialism brought. By the same token, the history of East and Southeast Asia, from 1498 to 1955 should not be read just as the history of the impact of European colonialism and the Asian response that this engendered." Therefore, while it is evident that the West has made a profound impact on China in modern times, we can also agree that during the reign of Chiang Kai Shek and the National Government from 1928 to 1949, China's problems were essentially of an internal nature.

During China's process of transformation - which of itself was instigated by Western ideologies of modernization, as we have thus far argued, the country had, as expected, experienced several decades of internal instability. Thus, the idea that "the causes of China's problems were essentially internal (emphasis added)", is relatively shallow, given the scope of Western dominance in China during modern times.

In the year 1927, there was the coming to power and control of the state by the Nationalist Movement leader Chiang Kai Shek, leading to the proclamation of the new capital of Nanjing on April 18, 1927. The nationalist government's foreign policy during the Nanjing Decade was fittingly based on nationalism, one of Sun Yat Sen's three principles. The unequal treaties and other unfair policies implemented by foreign governments were removed as a result of the government's nationalist policies. China recovered many foreign concessions during this time, and Britain granted tariff autonomy to China in 1928. China recovered all of its territories except Hong Kong, which remained with the British until 1997. Basically, China reclaimed her sovereignty during this time.

The performance of China in the field of diplomacy, however, was a failure, according to Fung: "Despite some notable achievements in treaty revision, the performance of the National Government in the sphere of foreign relations was a failure on the whole. Owing to a combination of factors, Nanjing's was the diplomacy of weakness".

The Sino-Japanese war began in 1937, and during the war Chinese relationsseemed to improve with the West. China became popular once Japan was defeated in 1945, and China's position in the world had improved remarkably since the beginning of the century. Shortly after the war, the Nationalist government starts to become unpopular due to growing support of the communist party, and after four years of conflict against the government, the CCP gains control of China in 1949. All of these historical events were part of the process of the modernization of China.

Talk of Western influence is scarcely found in the historical account of China between 1927 and 1949, so of course it would be easy to assume that the nation's problems were caused internally. It does however seem unusual to apply the argument that, all of a sudden, in the 20th century, China ran into a lot of strife.

The Chinese civilization has lasted in relative stability for the 5,000 years or thereabouts preceding the industrial age. K.R. Hall mentioned that "the story of economic development [in Southeast Asia]... begins long before the Christian era". So, given the historical scope of development in China and the fact that China's problems really began only in recent times, along with the encroachment of the West, it is reasonable to assert that although China's problems were of an internal nature, they were ultimately caused, or at least contributed to, by the West.

Sure enough, China experienced for the most part, a lot of internal troubles during the Nanjing decade and subsequent years until the coming to power of the CCP in 1949. But essentially, as we have demonstrated, none of this would have happened were it not for the meddling nature of the European colonialists during the preceding century. Ultimately, both the West and China had contributed to the era of revolution in China. The path to modernization in China was a hectic run of events that led to the ultimate transformation and the birth of the communist China we know today.

Luthor Erik Laine is a scholar at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. He maintains a simple Japan-related web shop at JapanFunZone.com and a personal blog at Mesetaxchange.com.

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