12. June 2011 by admin.

Starting on September 1st, 2011, GFI is going to drop their free ClearCloud DNS service, which saves countless people from surfing to web sites known to be infected or otherwise listed as a bad destination.  To me, this is an incredibly bad, self serving decision considering the number of infected web sites increases daily and has been estimated to number no less than 100,000 on any given day. 

To me, this lack of concern for public safety shows that GFI’s policy is, as always ”me first!”.  In true GFI fashion,  they somehow try to  rationalize their decision by saying mostcustomers do not want to receive this very valuable free service, but instead would prefer to purchase GFI’s (originally SunBelt Software’s) Vipre Premium product for their web filtering.

Well, it’s their product and we just need a “work-around”, so here are my suggestions:

1) Web of Trust (WOT) provides about the same function but in a different way. Go to http://www.mywot.com and download their plug-in(s) or your web browser(s).

2) Change your DNS server settings to OpenDNS:   208.67.220.220 and 208.67.222.222

These two changes will give you the same protection without relying on the commercial sector.

Below is the message that is displayed when you enter a non-existent website or an infected website while using ClearCloud DNS:

“Effective September 1, 2011, GFI’s ClearCloud DNS service will be discontinued and no longer available for consumer use. While we have many loyal ClearCloud DNS users, we have found that most customers prefer the more robust web filtering solution available as a feature in our VIPRE Premiumproduct. We would like to thank all of the beta testers for their valuable feedback throughout this last 12 month evaluation period. To discontinue using the ClearCloud DNS service, you will need to reconfigure your network connection. If this is not done prior to September 1, 2011, your Internet connectivity will be interrupted. Learn how to remove ClearCloud DNS from your computer by clicking here.”

Posted in Drive-by Infection, security, DNS, Malvertising, Beta Versions, Trojan, Virus, Worm, Malware | Print | No Comments »

29. May 2008 by admin.

If a race horse breaks a leg, they usually want to end its misery as quickly as possible.  It’s considered the more humane act. With the possible exception of Barbaro and a few others, that’s what people have done for hundreds of years.

I recently had to “put down” a piece of beta software that was broken. It was the most humane thing to do, except it was MY misery I wanted to end as quickly as possible.

This software started out with all of the promise of a fiery young colt and except for a few maddening bugs, delivered on that promise.

The software I am talking about is called Xobni (inbox spelled backwards). It is an Outlook add-in that performs many useful functions. While the major thrust is indexing your emails, it also provides a lot of
useful and a few not so useful statistics.  Want to find a specific email, just enter anything you can remember about it and Xobni will find it quickly and without too much strain on the old resources.

Want to know who sends you the most mail, or who you send the most mail to?  How about how quickly you reply to certain people, or how quickly they replay to you?  There’s all kinds of nice functionality.  And did I mention that Xobni (at least the beta version) is free?  Navigate to http://www.xobni.com for the download.

So, why am I singing its praises right after uninstalling it?  Not everyone has the same needs.  For many people, Xobni would be just great, and the price is right.  Nada !

The problem I experienced was that Outlook wouldn’t close correctly… In fact, most times it really didn’t close at all. I would close Outlook, it would appear to close;  the display would disappear from the screen, but Outlook,WinWord, and  Xobni would remain open.  I would have to go into task manager and close each file manually.  Sometimes there would be multiple instances of Outlook open, but hidden.

This wasn’t really a deal-breaker for me at first… a little inconvenient for sure, but as I said, it was a beta version, it provided very useful functionality, and it was free!

The turning point for me was during a PowerPoint presentation in front of several decision makers at a company I wanted to get on-board.  My slides were projected on a large screen in the front of the room and everything was going just fine, when suddenly a piece of “male enhancement” SPAM popped up in the lower right corner, followed by several pieces of personal email, AND a message from the CEO of a company that was in direct competition with my audience. Outlook was still functioning… albeit hidden, pulling down mail from the POP3 server. What a fiasco !

So, I uninstalled it that night.  As I mentioned, it was a beta version, and in all fairness I must also mention that the un-install routine called up an automatic connection to the Xobni web site.  Once there, I was presented with a survey asking why I uninstalled and mentioning that corrections were being made all the time and that a newer version may already be available.   I miss the program a lot, and may well try it again later.

You, dear reader must make up your own mine.

Good luck and good networking.

From way down in the trenches…. I’m Tom

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Posted in Beta Versions, Software, Troubleshooting, Computers | Print | No Comments »