It appears that antivirus companies have begun to sell their products on USB thumb drives. This is a great idea now that Netbooks are more common since many of them don’t have an optical drive. In fact, some antivirus companies such as Panda Security are making a Netbook specific versions of their antivirus products which are lighter on resources and come on a USB drive.

Another great thing about antivirus products coming on a USB drive is that the installation of the antivirus product (which usually takes ages) would happen much faster, since it is usually much faster than installing something from a CD.

Lastly, at the end of the day the customer is left with a USB drive which they could use for other purposes.

One of the biggest frustrations when installing Windows XP was making sure you had the correct CD for your license key. Windows Vista fixed this problem by having a universal CD that contained all versions (all 32bit versions or all 64bit versions, not both) and simply installed the version that the key matched.

Now that Windows 7 is out, Microsoft have reverted back to needing a separate disk for each version which is annoying for us computer technicians. However, the only difference between each DVD is a small 51 byte configuration file called ei.cfg which tells the installer what version disc it is. If you were to turn your DVD into an ISO, remove this ei.cfg file and write it back to a DVD, that DVD would become a Universal DVD.

ei.cfg Removal Utility will make this easy for you. Just create an ISO with your legitimate Windows 7 DVD, run this tool, choose the ISO and let it run. Once it has finished, just write the ISO back to a DVD again and you would only need to carry one 32bit version and one 64bit version to support any Windows 7 install onsite.

Of course, your client would still need to provide you with a working key for the Windows 7 install to work.

A hardwired Ethernet network is, by nature, safer and more secure than WiFi, but it is still vulnerable. Instead of breaking into the network, as with WiFi, hackers usually break into one of the PCs on the network, which can give them access to the information on all the PCs. The following security tips apply to both wired and wireless networks. While there is no such thing as absolute security, the more of these tips you follow the more secure your wireless network will be.

Secure both the network and each PC

Use security software that comes with your wireless or wired router to secure the network.

• Rename your network. Out of the box, most routers use their own easily identifiable names (SSIDs) that make them easier for hackers to crack. Change the router name to one that doesn’t give you or the network type away.

• Use the media access control (MAC) feature that is usually included with your router. It lets you name each PC on the network and restrict network access to only those PCs.

• Secure each PC with its own firewall, so that even if a hacker gets into the network, he/she won’t be able to access the PCs on it.

Use strong password security

• The security software that comes with most routers usually offers several levels of password protection. Don’t use WEP (wired equivalent privacy) passwords as they are easily hacked. Use at least WPA (Wi-Fi protected access) or WPA Personal passwords, or an even more secure format, if offered.

• Create hard to decipher passwords. Don’t include your name, birth date, address or other obvious words or numbers. The best passwords are a random mix of letters, numbers, and characters, eight or more characters long.

• Change your password often. 

Use up-to-date security software

• Firewall protection for each computer in the network.

• Transaction security to help ensure your online shopping or banking transactions are secured.

• Antivirus protection to help keep viruses, Trojan horses and worms from infecting your PCs.

• Antispyware to block hackers from placing spyware on your PC.

• Email scanning to remove viruses from email.

To maximize the effectiveness of your Internet security software, make sure it is always up-to-date so that you are always protected from the very latest security threats.

Internet security software will help you maximize the safety and security of your home network. It adds security features that neither PCs nor network routers offer.