PC Magazine April 11 2006 - The Home of the Barries

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CONSUMER ELECTRONICS LOW-COST LCD HDTV Proview RX-326 Proview; $949.99 list Widescreen 32-inch display. Pleasing picture quality. Good image quality with analog/digital inputs. Inexpensive. go.pcmag.com/RX326 SMART PHONES (KEYBOARDLESS) T-Mobile SDA T-Mobile; $3,299.99 direct Wi-Fi. Dedicated music buttons. Excellent screen. Syncs with Outlook. go.pcmag.com/SDA ULTRACOMPACT DIGITAL CAMERA Canon PowerShot SD550 Digital Elph Canon U.S.A. Inc.; $449.95 list Quick performer. Excellent image quality. Unique “My Color” feature. Good ergonomics. Sleek and attractive. go.pcmag.com/SD550 T-Mobile SDA TRAVEL SPEAKERS Creative TravelDock 900 Creative Labs Inc.; $79.99 direct Very compact. Good sound quality and power. Good battery life with alkaline batteries. go.pcmag.com/ traveldock900 HEADPHONES Etymotic ER6i Etymotic Research Inc.; $130 street Great sound quality and sensitivity. Good bass performance. Comfortable. Effectively blocks outside noise. go.pcmag.com/er6i HARDWARE DEDICATED PHOTO PRINTER Canon Selphy CP510 Compact Photo Printer Canon U.S.A. Inc.; $99.99 direct Very affordable. Fast performance and low running cost. Very good photo quality for go.pcmag.com/whattobuy • FIRST LOOKS WHAT TO BUY Proview RX-326 the price. Prints on a variety of paper sizes up to 4 by 8 inches. Battery option. go.pcmag.com/canoncp510 LAPTOP Dell Inspiron 6000 (Media Center) Dell Inc.; $968.80 direct (E-Value Code 1111-i6004pc) Media Center OS. 15.4-inch widescreen display. Very good performance. go.pcmag.com/DellInspiron6000MCE DESKTOPS Apple iMac (Intel Core Duo) Apple Computer Inc.; $1,699 direct, $1,799 as tested Dual-core processor. Front row. Mini-DVI port for true dual-monitor usage. go.pcmag.com/appleimacintel Dell Dimension E310 Dell Inc.: $746; with 17-inch LCD, $929 Windows Media Center Edition. DataSafe option for added storage protection. Great bang for the buck. go.pcmag.com/dellE310 ALL-IN-ONE PRINTER Canon Pixma MP500 Canon U.S.A. Inc.; $199 street Prints, scans, and copies. Fast performance. Excellent paper handling. go.pcmag.com/ CanonPixmaMP500 LCD MONITOR (21-INCH) Gateway FPD2185W Gateway Inc.; $599.99 direct Excellent image quality. Lots of video connections. Highly adjustable. go.pcmag.com/GatewayFPD2185W HARD DRIVE Maxtor OneTouch II Small Business Edition (SBE) Maxtor Corp.; $599.95 direct One-touch data back-up. Works with Windows 2000/2003 Server and Small Business Server. Unattended backups. Can be removed and locked down easily. go.pcmag.com/ MaxtorOneTouchIISBE SOFTWARE BACKUP SOFTWARE NTI Shadow NewTech Infosystems Inc.; $29.99 Fast, simple, continuous backup. go.pcmag.com/NTIShadow ANTISPYWARE Spyware Doctor 3.5 PC Tools; $29.95 Best version yet. Removed more spyware than other tested products. go.pcmag.com/SpyDoc35 FINANCIAL SOFTWARE TurboTax Premier 2005 Intuit Inc.; $14.95–$69.95 Excellent coverage of personal tax topics. Top-notch interface and help. Free deduction-tracking application and a rewards program can add value. go.pcmag.com/TurboPremier05 HOME NETWORKING Buffalo LinkTheater Buffalo Technology (USA) Inc.; $300 Streams digitized content from PC to entertainment center. go.pcmag.com/LinkTheater Canon Selphy CP510 www.pcmag.com APRIL 11, 2006 PC MAGAZINE 69
go.pcmag.com/feedback ‘‘ MS AntiSpyware smacks of the safe computing ’’ initiative: “We’ll decide what’s best for you.” ON “STUPID” USERS I’ve been a faithful reader for years and have owned one PC or another since 1980. Thus, I’m the guy everyone comes to when their computer gets slow or won’t boot, etc. Your article on “Stupid Users” (“The Sorry State of Security”, February 21, page 78) is dead on. I’ve spent countless hours fi xing stupid user mistakes for friends, neighbors, and people at work. I agree with the article that everyone—users, publishers, hardware manufacturers, and the media—is to blame, but you can avoid most problems by some simple daily and weekly maintenance. When I tell folks how to protect their data and hardware, they get a glazed look in their eyes and wait patiently for me to remove all the junk that has built up in their PCs over months of neglect and ignorance. As you can get pretty good protection from a variety of sources for free, I don’t see why anyone should fall into these traps. I realize you can do everything right and still end up with a virus or spyware problem, but keeping your protection up to date lessens the likelihood of this. Thank you for putting into words the frustrations I’ve felt over the past couple of years. Bill Barnes I wanted to say how much I agree with your assertion that the stupid consumer is responsible for many of the problems related to PC security. After all, setting up and maintaining security on a PC is so simple! Users need to do only the following easy tasks: Install a security suite and deal with its complex settings. Confi gure the fi rewall and grant the correct programs access to the Internet. Confi gure the antispam tool to integrate with an e-mail client like Outlook. Deal with the time- and system-resource-consuming software upgrades and scans. Install and confi gure a good antispyware tool (which may confl ict with the security suite and—if not set correctly— may block some legitimate programs on start-up). And again, deal with upgrades and system scans. How to Contact Us We welcome your comments and suggestions. When sending e-mail to Feedback, please state in the subject line of your message which article or column prompted your response. E-MAIL pcmag@ziffdavis.com. MAIL Feedback, PC Magazine, 28 East 28th Street, New York, NY 10016-7940. All letters become the property of PC Magazine and are subject to editing. We regret that we cannot answer letters individually. FEEDBACK go.pcmag.com/feedback For broadband, install a router and configure the firewall. Configure the wireless security settings. (Online gamers and others will need to set up individual port access and perform advanced router configuration.) Users should also set up wireless security on all wireless devices in the network: print server, home laptop, offi ce laptop, entertainment server, etc. (This could entail several hours on the phone with tech support for each device.) And in addition: Confi gure browser security settings. Deal with Web privacy issues (including managing cookies, temp fi les, history fi les, and so on). Be alert for programs that want to install themselves on your PC (and then report your actions back to some database not easily identifi able as spyware because the programs seem to come from a legitimate vendor like Google or Logitech or Sony). Also: Keep Windows updated with the unending series of MS security patches. And stay informed about new threats, like rootkits and fl ash cookies, that seem to appear almost weekly. I’m sure I’ve forgotten something, but you get the idea. This security business is child’s play, and only stupid people don’t keep their PCs secure! Steve Chapman THAT PESKY MS MESSENGER The way Jim Louderback replied to Talha bin Hamid (Feedback, February 21) was fi ne, but Jim could at least have told him how to solve the problem. After all, you are a PC magazine. Basically, all you need to do is open MSN Messenger, then go to Tools | Options, then select General, uncheck Automatically run Messenger when I log on to Windows, and click OK. No more MSN Messenger starting up when you’re on Windows start-up. Even if you remove MSN Messenger from start-up, it will just re-add itself if the above option remains checked. Elliot Svec Jim Louderback’s response to the reader complaining about Microsoft’s AntiSpyware beta program allowing the startup of MSN Messenger was way out of line for a couple of reasons. The purpose of antispyware applications is to put the user in control of which applications get installed or run. MS AntiSpyware smacks of the safe computing initiative: “We’ll decide what’s best for you.” Also, the fact that the software is currently free is a red herring. It’s a beta version, and Micro- www.pcmag.com APRIL 11, 2006 PC MAGAZINE 71
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PC Magazine April 11 2006 - The Home of the Barries

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