I received a question from subscriber and friend Ralph Campbell, who asked: A number of times I have seen you refer disparagingly of “Active-x controls”. I have seen downloads that require Active X to run properly. I have read the definition of the program, but, I guess I am just dense. What is this thing, [...]

Sunbelt released CounterSpy 2 last week. The new version features a new antispyware / antiadware engine aimed at providing much enhanced capabilities. In addition, CounterSpy 2 has much improved memory usage and runs on XP, 2000, and Vista (32-bit only). I’ve updated my computers to CounterSpy 2. Sunbelt has continued the 15-day free full-function trial [...]

AP has a good article about yesterday’s “Patch Tuesday” updates from Microsoft. Microsoft releases almost all updates on one day each month — the 2nd Tuesday of the month. This time, there were 6 crifical updates, including one for the “malicious software engine” that powers Windows Defender, including on Vista. What kind of problem? The [...]

I wrote back on December 10th that Sunbelt Software had some unadvertised coupons for ComputerSpy, iHateSpam and Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall. These were supposed to expire, but for some reason, the discount codes still seem to be active. I have no idea how long these discount codes will continue to be good. Here’s the original [...]

Update 2010 – This blog entry was originally posted in 2006 – folks, blogs are posts at specific dates. There was a 2008 – that’s “8″ — post – and, of course, that code has expired now, too.] – original post – Sunbelt has an unadvertised coupon sale that runs until 12 midnight, Eastern Standard [...]

I read a couple days ago that IE7 was showing up on Windows Updates automatic downloads. At first, I believed it. Then, when I checked manually (I have automatic turned off), Microsoft Updates did not show it available for my computer. This morning, though, my desktop (my only computer that still has IE6) had the [...]

The CounterSpy Monster of a Sale is ending tomorrow, Tuesday, October 31st at midnight Eastern Standard Time. Until then, if you use Coupon Code HALLOWEEN at the time of purchase, you can get one license for CounterSpy for only $13.13 — that’s a huge discount from the regular $19.95 price. Get CounterSpy Now

CounterSpy Monster of a Deal! Coupon Code ‘HALLOWEEN’ One license for only $13.13“A Monster of a Deal!” Sale Starts Monday, October 23, 2006 Sale Ends Tuesday October 31, 2006 Read my CounterSpy Review

A subscriber wrote me to ask about a warning that she received when she was installing a version of OpenOffice.org. Windows popped up a warning that the "Publisher could not be verified" and asked for confirmation on whether to allow the installation or not. This is a new Microsoft validation scheme that many publishers of [...]

My Philosophy: Many people want to pick their most economical solution and prefer an all-in-one anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall solution. In concept, that’s a great idea. In actual practice, this type of package is not likely to be the best in all the protection categories you need. Other people want to pick the best of [...]