There’s been a trend towards small, light laptops which have more limited functions and are called Netbooks implying that you will use the web for storing documents and for much of your work. The iPads (both original and iPad2) can be used as excellent substitutes with a couple of caveats.

First, typing on the the ipad is less than satisfying. The “keyboard” is simply a portion of the screen that is displaying an image of a keyboard. There is no real feedback when “hitting the keys.” However, you can by an iPad case which has a built-in regular keyboard. With that you’ve got a pretty interesting device. Below is an image of a case from Targus (about $99).

Second, which iPad2 to get? They basically come in two varieties: wifi and 3g or just wifi. If you’re a student using it just within a university setting you can probably get away without the 3g. However, there are times when you will really appreciate it. For example, you’re in the car a realize you need to get/send an email. You may have no wifi nearby but you’ll probably have access to 3g. It adds to the price but its probably worth it.

Third, and last, is memory size. I purchased the 64-gig version which costs $829 in the wifi-3g version. The least memory is the 16gig version. In my opinion, for most people the 32gig wifi-3g version should be adequate.

Note there are tablets other than the iPad but you’re much more likely to find apps that fit your need with the iPad.

When you’re connected to the internet your cable or dsl modem has an IP address which is your location in the world. Sometimes you need to know what that address is. Open your browser and go to www.whatismyip.com and you’ll know immediately.

Data Robotics has, for several years, been making a very interesting series of data storage devices.

You can tell from the cable that it is a network device. Further the lights may give you a hint that it stores up to four drives. But that alone is not what makes it so interesting. Perhaps you know about Raid technologies which protect your data by storing it in a redundant format so that you are always protected. The way raid works is that if a drive dies your professional tech support person can relatively easily replace the drive without data loss even if the drive is totally destroyed.

That’s not what Drobo does… well it sort of is<g>. Data Robotics uses its own proprietary technology to add one additional and extraordinary feature. That is, you can do it yourself without the need for a technician. Pop one drive out push another drive in and you’re in business with a new drive replacing your old. Better yet the drives can be of any size and any manufacturer.

Interested? Check it out at www.datarobotics.com.

Recently I’ve been seeing Kindle ads which show people lying on the beach. One ad (the first I saw) shows two people in bright red beach chairs and when I first saw it I could not figure out what it was that bothered me about the ad. The second time I saw it suddenly what was wrong slammed me in the head! The color. Here was this beautiful beach scene with all this color and then the focus on the dull dark-grey and white text of the Kindle screen.

The more recent ad shows two people: one with a Kindle and one with what I suppose to be an iPad and the guy with the iPad asks the gal how she can read in this bright light and she explains that her’s is a Kindle.

For me, somehow this feels like the Kindle folk protest too much. They’re trying to compare the reading experience of the Kindle to the reading experience of the iPad and I suppose they’re correct but I can’t get past the contrast of the dull Kindle screen and the bright scene.

I make software for a living so I’m the last person to tell you not to pay for software but don’t buy until you’re sure and even then only if it’s not available legally for free.

For example, Open Office is a nice suite that very easily competes against Microsoft Office and it is free. Find it at www.openoffice.org.

Also, most software is available for a trial period. For some, it is as long as a six-month trial. You can, of course find the trial versions at the maker’s website but one great source is downloads.com.

Beyond this there are two great sites. The first is bitsdujour.com where you will find software discounted daily. If you sign-up for their newsletter you know each day what is available. The second is giveawayoftheday.com where manufacturers offer their software (their commercial software) for free if you get it that day.

So, until you actually need to, stop buying software.

Do you have two monitors connected to one computer. Connecting multiple monitors is pretty easy to do but how about effectively using those monitors. Lets say you have two monitors side-by-side and you always want an app to open on the right-hand monitor. Without UltraMon this is basically impossible but with it you simply set a property that says open this on monitor 2, for example. And then every time you open that app it will open on the monitor you chose. You can find UltraMon here: www.ultramon.com

We have been using Vipre anti-virus for over a year and found it to be terrific.

Now we have upgraded to the Vipre Premium edition.

What I particularly like is that they offer a version for home and home office where for one price you can install it on all of your home machines. For example, I have five machines making this a very good deal.

You will find Vipre at Sunbelt-Software.com.

We’ve all experienced a crashed computer and when you’re computer crashes you then think about all of the things you should have done. Sometimes you can do a system restore using a restore point created by the Microsoft Windows® System Restore and sometimes that works.

The Rollback console

A better and more automatic solution is Rollback from Horizon Data Systems. You can find it here.  With Rollback installed if there is a problem with booting up you can invoke the Rollback feature before the boot failure and a bit later you’re back in business.

1. You can receive an infected email.
2. You can download something that is infected.
3. You can visit an infected website.

There is another way though to become infected and that is by being connected to the internet and not being protected because there are programs that search out unprotected computers and then, from afar, infect them.

While there is no 100-percent effective preventitive there are some good rules-of-thumb that you can follow:

1. Have good anti-malware software on your machine.
2. Keep it up-to-date.
3. Don’t open any attachments you are unsure about.
4. Don’t download free stuff from unknown sources.
5. Don’t visit free music sites, porn sites, or free software sites.

A fourth solution is to turn off your computer, disconnect it from the internet, and store it in a closet.

Yeah, I know. Not very practical but this is just my way of saying you can’t be too careful. So let’s look at each of these in-depth.

Have good anti-malware software on your machine

I begin with the types of anti-malware. These are:

• anti-virus – Obviously this protects your computer against viruses. Typically these come in two forms: free and annual subscription. Usually the annual subscription versions are more complete and cost anwhere from $29 to $59 per year. Some major brands are: AVG*, Norton Anti-Virus from Symantec, Vipre from Sunbelt software, McAffee Anti-Virus, Trend Micro, Panda, and Microsoft Essential Security. AVG has a free version and the Microsoft product is free.

• anti-spyware – This protects you against spyware. What is the difference between spyware and a virus? Sometimes nothing. Spyware collects information about how you are using your computer and does this without your consent. Often spyware is placed on your computer by a virus so you can see the confusion between the two terms. Again, there are some well-known brands: Spy Doctor* from PC Tools, Super Anti-Spyware, Spybot, and Adaware*. Both Adaware and Spy Doctor have free versions.

• anti-spam – Spam is simply the term used for emails that you did not want to receive. You’ve probably seen emails advertising Viagra, emails telling you that you can have millions of dollars, plus many many more. Anti-spam software works to keep these messages from your inbox. At first you may think that spam might be annoying but not so harmful. Consider that many have viruses attached and are looking to infect your system. Common brands of anti-spam software are: Mail Washer, Spam Sleuth and others.

Since you will want to protect your PC from all three threats you probably should consider a brand that offers a suite that includes all three. Symantec, McAffee, Panda, Sunbelt Software, Trend Micro, and others all offer suites. These are most cost-effective and while more expensive that just anti-virus software are well worth their cost.

How do these products work?

One of the major differences between free versions of software and their paid counterpart is that many of the free products are missing certain key features or have a lesser version of those features.

One feature that is important is real-time protection. What is real-time protection? You are said to have real-time protection if your software is continually monitoring for threats. For example, an email comes in containing a virus. Good anti-virus software with real-time protection will notice the arrival of the email message and immediately, without any effort on your part, remove the virus. The sames goes for spyware and spam.

Without real-time protection the software will only look for problems when you manualy run it. The rest of the time it is inactive.

For example, lets compare the free and paid versions of Adaware. The free version looks for spyware and even has some limited real-time protection. The paid version has everything the free version has plus: full antivirus protection, real-time registry and process protection, scheduler, and one more important thing– free technical support. And that product costs $26.95 per year.

So while it is not necessarily true that the most expensive product is the most feature rich, it is true that the more feature rich the product the better chance you have of being protected.

Finally, if you want to protect yourself go to google and search for anti of these terms: anti-malware, anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam and you will find links to all of the major brands.

So how do I get rid of malware on my computer?

The answer depends on how severe your situation is. If you have a second computer, you can download protective software from the internet and then store that on a usb flash drive. Then you can plug the flash drive into your infected machine and run the software. That may get rid of the problem.

Sometimes all you need to do is run a scan of your computer using already installed software.

Beyond this it gets tricky and may require you contacting a professional. Here’s why. Many malware so infect your machine that it is impossible to connect to the internet to download software to remove the infection. Also in some cases the malware simply allow it to look like software is cleaning your computer but when finished your problem is still present.

Your best bet for any but the simplest problem is to give a call to your local professional.

Today I became aware of the Diaspora project which is an Open Source potential competitor to Facebook which will not have the ability to compromise your information. Currently they’re in development and if you’d like to follow their progress here is the link: join diaspora – blog.