Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0

MSE 2.0 is not officially released but is available for download via Microsoft here

With MSE 2, Microsoft is evolving this product in a few meaningful ways. Setup is as simple as ever and retains the same basic UI of its predecessor, with the same Home, Update, History, and Settings tabs.



New features include:

Windows Firewall integration. MSE 2 integrates with the built-in Windows Firewall and will prompt you to enable this integration during Setup. This way, MSE can include firewall monitoring as part of its overall PC health monitoring.


New protection engine. The MSE antimalware engine has been updated to offer enhanced detection and cleanup capabilities with better performance.


Network inspection system. MSE 2 now helps protect against network-based exploits.


Other improvements. MSE 2 includes other important, if hard-to-find, changes. You can specify that CPU usage not exceed a certain limit (the default is 50 percent) during scheduled scans. MSE 2 reports when definitions were checked in addition to when they were updated so that you can be sure it's working properly if a long time has elapsed between definition updates. The real-time protection functionality offers more fine-grained control. You can now auto-remove quarantined files after a specified interval, though that option is disabled by default. And Microsoft now allows you to opt out of Microsoft SpyNet, the online community that ensures that MSE stays up to date; I don't recommend doing this for obvious reasons.

One feature, enhanced protection from web-based threats, was removed very late in the beta. According to Microsoft, this feature was removed for performance reasons.

download the new version.

$200K in Student Loans for a BA from Northeastern?

My Very Costly College Education | The John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy

Yikes! I'm an NU grad and left with my BS in 5 years and $1,200 in student loans. I lived at home while at school and away from home during some very lucrative co-ops. I drove a beat up 10 year old car that finally died during the last weeks of school. I also worked close to 30 hours a week flipping burgers at a Ground Round restaurant for the first three years at NU.

Makes all that sacrifice seem worth it when I left owing $198,800 less than Kelli Space. I hated writing all 12 $100 checks to pay off my student loan. I can't fathom what it must feel like to try to pay off $200K of student loans.

Here's a hint: there is no such thing as "good debt." Debt is debt. You are a fool if you are not carefully considering how you will pay off each and every dollar of your debt before you acquire it.

Black Dog Sheds

Dyson Groom tool home

Best Friends Responds to Obama Praising Michael Vick

When the President Calls About the Vick Dogs | The Best Friends Blog

Obama recently called the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles to praise him for giving Michael Vick a second chance and telling him "what a great arm" Vick has.

The president and co-founder of Best Friends is still waiting for Obama to call thanking him for rescuing the dogs that Vick had fight, electrocuted, stabbed and tortured.

Read the link above, and here is their Christmas Video:

Top Ten Charts of 2010 | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.

Top Ten Charts of 2010 | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.

Video Barbie in FBI Cross Hairs | Threat Level | Wired.com

Video Barbie in FBI Cross Hairs | Threat Level | Wired.com

Canon 7D vs. Barbie Video Girl from Brandon Bloch on Vimeo.

YouTube - Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

YouTube - Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!: ""

Wow. Best campaign ad of the year.

Summer Camp

Is CO2 the cause? - Pt 1 of 4

Instructions on Using Your Rotary Phone

Mourning in America vs. Morning in America

Gmail Supports IMAP4

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/10/gmail-supports-imap.html

OK, this news is a mere 23 months old, but I just learned it today.  A great reason to use GMail is it is one of the few (only?) free online e-mail sites to support IMAP4.  What's that mean?  Well it allows you to use a great E-mail program like Thunderbird from Mozilla while you are at home.  Anything you do, like sending messages, deleting messages, etc at home will also be recorded online.

Then when you travel you can still use GMail online.  It's the best of both worlds, and the equivalent of how large corporation handle e-mail by keeping your e-mail on a central server that you can access and manipulate just like Outlook.

Further thoughts on the higher education bubble |

Glenn Harlan Reynolds: Further thoughts on the higher education bubble | Washington Examiner:

"Right now, people are still borrowing heavily to pay the steadily increasing tuitions levied by higher education. But that borrowing is based on the expectation that students will earn enough to pay off their loans with a portion of the extra income their educations generate. Once people doubt that, the bubble will burst.

So my advice to students faced with choosing colleges (and graduate schools, and law schools) this coming year is simple: Don’t go to colleges or schools that will require you to borrow a lot of money to attend. There’s a good chance you’ll find yourself deep in debt to no purpose. And maybe you should rethink college entirely. "

You're never too young to learn that your government sucks.

Portland lemonade stand runs into health inspectors, needs $120 license to operate | OregonLive.com

Google Chrome Extensions that I Like

AdBlock - Version: 2.0.18 AdBlock for Chrome! Blocks ads all over the web. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars by our users!

AdThwart - Version: 0.9.26 Blocks ads using the Firefox AdBlock Plus filter engine. Kiss ads goodbye and browse in peace!

Blog This! (by Google) - Version: 0.0.7 Add a BlogThis! button to the browser toolbar, which lets you post to your Blogger blog from any webpage with just one click.

Click&Clean - Version: 5.3.0.0 Deletes your browsing history, typed URLs, Flash cookies, all traces of your online activity to protect your privacy.

Downloads - Version: 1 Access the Downloads window directly from the toolbar

Google Calendar Checker (by Google) - Version: 1.0.3 Quickly see the time until your next meeting. Click the button to open your calendar.

Google Mail Checker Plus - Version: 1.1.7 Displays the number of unread messages in your Gmail and Google Apps inbox. Preview mail, read, delete, archive and mark as spam!

Woot! - Version: 1.1 Want to see what's for sale today at Woot? There's an app...Er, I mean, we can help.

Xmarks Bookmarks and Password Sync - Version: 0.8.43 Backup and sync your bookmarks, passwords and open tabs across computers and browsers. Xmarks is also available for Firefox, Safari and IE.

Orlando Real Estate Financing Data

The percentage of Orlando real estate transactions completed on an all cash basis has increased dramatically over the past years. Reasons include:

A significant number of investor buyers who are not able to secure financing and therefore must pay cash, and
A significant number of properties that are ineligible for financing, such as very low priced condos and properties that need intensive rehabilitation.
All Cash Transactions
Year % of All-Cash Transactions
2010 51.09
2009 41.38
2008 20.26
2007 8.95
2006 6.56
2005 9.28
2004 10.48
2003 9.50
2002 10.03

Unbelievable Plots from the History Channel Network

Read the Whole thing:

I think the worst offender here is the History Channel and all their programs on the so-called "World War II".

Let's start with the bad guys. Battalions of stormtroopers dressed in all black, check. Secret police, check. Determination to brutally kill everyone who doesn't look like them, check. Leader with a tiny villain mustache and a tendency to go into apopleptic rage when he doesn't get his way, check. All this from a country that was ordinary, believable, and dare I say it sometimes even sympathetic in previous seasons.

I wouldn't even mind the lack of originality if they weren't so heavy-handed about it. Apparently we're supposed to believe that in the middle of the war the Germans attacked their allies the Russians, starting an unwinnable conflict on two fronts, just to show how sneaky and untrustworthy they could be? And that they diverted all their resources to use in making ever bigger and scarier death camps, even in the middle of a huge war? Real people just aren't that evil. And that's not even counting the part where as soon as the plot requires it, they instantly forget about all the racism nonsense and become best buddies with the definitely non-Aryan Japanese.

New Laptop

I was about getting a little netbook as the family portable computer.  We are in need of an inexpensive portable computer to take with us on trips and the boat.  But wasn't really happy with the price / performance formula you get with the netbook.  The screen resolutions seem poor, the processor and memory seem slight and the operating system that comes with it is crippled.  To get the battery life you want, the 2GB memory you need for performance, and the newest processors you are spending close to $400.

So I started looking at laptops.  But they tend to be pretty big and have much less battery life.  I finally settled on a Toshiba T135-S1305.  It has a very nice 13.3" screen, 320GB Hard Drive, Intel Pentium SU4100 low power dual processor and 3GB of memory.  It also shipped with the Windows 7 Home Premium OS.

Now I need to populate it with my software.  The list is:

1. Microsoft Security Essentials AntiVirus and Spyware protection.  (the laptop shipped with Norton, which demands payment after 90 days.  ick, get rid of it and replace it with Microsoft's free software.)
2. Itunes (of course)
3. Chrome (plus a host of extensions including AdThwart, BlogThis, Click & Clean, Downloads, Google Calendar Checker, Google Mail Checker Plus, Woot!, and Xmarks Bookmarks Sync plus Adobe Flash player and Shockwave)
4. Open Office (free!)
5. Photoshop and Premiere Elements (not free, but essential!)
6. Picassa (also free!)
7. Google Earth (fun!)
8. And of course all of the family's printer drivers

So it will be quite the project.

This About Sums It Up

Father's Day Request

The Road to Serfdom as a Comic Book @ AMERICAN DIGEST

The Road to Serfdom as a Comic Book @ AMERICAN DIGEST

FSYO Symphonic Orchestra Mahler 1 Parts 1 and 2

Eric is playing the right side timpani drums

Arizona Sing-A-Long: Read Immigration Law!

WPHS Wind Ensemble "Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral"

shot with Kodak ZI8 camcorder from balcony.