Day: July 5, 2006

A new study and recommendation by the network security form, Sophos suggests that the best way for home users to enjoy real network security and freedom from malware is to use a Mac! I would argue that the same thing could be accomplished by using a Linux box, but I guess that they were looking at only “supported” (by a company) systems. Linux is supported by the Open Source community, and you can also buy support from most major Linux vendors, but I digress. The important point here is that to truly avoid malware, simply avoid using Windows. Big surprise!

Sophos: because of malware home users should switch to Macs

“Sophos has published new research into the past six months of cyber crime. The Sophos Security Threat Management Report Update reveals that while there has been a vast drop in new viruses and worms, this has been over-compensated by increases in other types of malware, as cyber criminals turn their attention to stealing information and money. Most interestingly, new Trojans now outweigh viruses and worms by 4:1, compared to 2:1 in the first half of 2005. In addition, the continued dominance of Windows-based threats has prompted Sophos to suggest that many home users should consider switching to Apple Macs, to shield themselves from the malware onslaught.”

What is “FreeDOS” you say? Well, as it’s name implies, it is a free and Open Source version of the old, venerable DOS that we all used to love/hate! Microsoft long ago threw in the towel on DOS, but there are some old “die-hards” out there that still run it. FreeDOS has provided a free and open version for us “old fogies” to use when necessary… but there was a rumor of late that FreeDOS has died unceremoniously and was no more! Au contraire!

Free DOS Lives!

It seems not only that the project is continuing, they are getting ready to release the “1.0” version, a milestone in most Open Source projects! Hooray for FreeDOS!

FreeDOS Website

Writing a blog is fun, but it can be time consuming, and, as they say, “Time is money!” So, the question comes around at some point, “How can I monetize my blog?” For those of you that don’t use the current “buzzwords”… “monetize” is to “make money from” your efforts. No matter how open and free spirited you are, if you can make some money from your tireless blogging… well, why not?

In my case, because I wanted to make sure that if I did, it wouldn’t be so intrusive and “take over” my blog. It needed to “fit in” to my blog’s style and look-and-feel. So, I signed up for Google Adsense, and starting playing around with several packages for WordPress that would integrate Adsense into my blog.

I had mixed results. It turns out that the best way (for me anyway) is to use the old fashioned “code hacking” approach and insert the Adsense code directly into my WordPress Blog code. Here’s an article that shows you how to do it:

Adsense in WordPress

So, I hope you find the Adsense ads tasteful, and not too distracting, and if you see something that you are interested in, and want to click on it for more info… well, reset assured in the knowledge that you will be helping the Doctor pay for the cost of running the blog! Thanks!

By the way, you may notice that on the right sidebar I have a disclaimer that says, “The Computer Curmudgeon web site is not directly affiliated with any advertisers.” This is true. Don’t tell them that, “the Doctor sent ya,” because the Google ads are context based, and I have no idea what will come up based on the context of an article!