Add some polish to Sky with Chrome

Now, I'm not one to force (or even encourage) people to change their web browser. It's a matter of familiarity and personal choice. I've always liked Firefox and used it in preference to Internet Explorer. But when I worked at a certain big pharma corporate, it was IE or nothing.

<old geek> This could be because I had always used Netscape (well, Mosaic briefly when t'interweb was first invented) and watched it wither and die under the onslaught of IE. Sob.</old geek>

However, today I saw first hand a good reason to change. I was trying to sort out a customer's PC that was running very slowly when accessing his email. He uses Sky as his provider and accesses email via their website. Rather than just blame Sky, I asked him to try accessing his email on his partner's laptop. No problems there, her laptop was a lot faster.

Both running Internet Explorer, both accessing the same mailbox, one significantly faster. I suggested uninstalling IE8 on his machine, in case it was that (IE8 has been going out as a high-priority update on Microsoft update - tut tut). But he didn't have IE8 installed. So I suggested he install it.

Not clutching at straws at all, then.


Still no luck. Then a flash of inspiration. Sky email is actually provided by Google, so why not try that flash new browser, Google Chrome?

Now, bearing in mind I was doing all this in a remote support session, which makes things slow, I nearly fell off my chair when I saw the difference.


Accessing Sky Email with Google Chrome was fantastic, so if you have the first I recommend the second. I just don't recommend the first...


However, I will be sticking with Firefox a little longer, for reasons I will explain another time.


HDG

Beware "Personal Antivirus"

Most virus or malware infections at the moment are introduced using "social engineering". They do not install themselves without you knowing, they instead use tactics to encourage you to install them without realising.

One horrible example is "Personal Antivirus". Recently, we have had a couple of calls where clients are being told that they have hundreds of infections on their PC. Each infection warning is more dire than the last - 'this virus deletes files', 'this trojan steals credit card numbers', 'this virus eats your first-born'...

In fact, they have only one infection - "Personal Antivirus". At some point they have clicked on a link, disguised like a warning from Windows. They are cleverly designed to look like warnings from Windows Security Center [sic] or the little activex warnings that Internet Explorer pops up at the top of the page.

Once you've clicked on the link, you've installed "Personal Antivirus". Hurrah, you must be safe now? Well, no, because all this software does is throw up more warnings, telling you that you are visting infected websites or have all these infections. The interface looks very much like an old version of AVG and incredibly genuine.

Until you click on the button to clean the infection. Which is when it asks you for your credit card details so that you can activate the antivirus software. Run away, fast.

There is no entry in Add / Remove programs for "Personal Antivirus" and selecting the close option does nothing.

Fortunately, something like the wonderful Malwarebytes' Antimalware package can clean it easily. You can download it for personal use for free.

And if you must use free antivirus software, use something decent, like AVG. Better still, or for business use, buy something good. We're resellers for AVG and the wonderful ESET range.


HDG