What Do You Want Your Computer to Do?

Copy and Paste ... in Snow Leopard

One of the (only) things that for years I was truly envious of my Windows-using friends for having was the ability to copy a file in the windows explorer and then paste in a folder elsewhere. It just made sense when moving large numbers of files, duplicating files and for quickly throwing a file somewhere without having to open more than one window.

I don't recall it being touted when Snow Leopard came out last year, but Mac users now have the ability to copy and paste files and folders.

I've used this quite a bit lately when copying files to a duplicate location on either a flash drive or onto a server.

Thanks, Apple.

VMWare Fusion vs. Parrallels Desktop 5 Head-to-Head

I don't run Windows on my mac, but I know some of you do. Back in the day, I used to run Microsoft's Virtual PC software, but finally found away around it a couple of years ago and never looked back. I've never like the Boot Camp solution, where you actually have reboot your Mac into the Windows environment. What a hassle and a waste of time, right? Well, that's why there's Fusion and Parrallels. These software emulators run Windows apps right on your Mac. What's the difference, you ask? Well, just check out this video:



Amazing difference.

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF USER INTELLECT BASED ON ANTI-PRODUCTIVITY APPLICATIONS INCLUDED IN OPERATING SYSTEMS

A must see. Follow the link.

Ballmer on the Today Show

A couple of quick thoughts:

Oops. That's a MacBook Pro on the screen in the background.

"Hundreds of millions of users" of Vista???? Really? If it was that big a success, Microsoft wouldn't have wet all over themselves trying to get Windows 7 out the door as fast as they could or play down Vista as much.

And is it just me, or was there no real talk about any real features or actual reasons for anyone to , you know, actually upgrade to Windows 7? The touchscreen PC is cool, but what's new that would make my grandma's life easier by using Windows 7?

A missed opportunity by Steve Ballmer.

Happy Upgrading, Windows Users...

Quote of the Day...

"One week from today, Microsoft will try to shake the stink of Vista."

-Ken Ray

Use Windows to Access Your Bank Online at Your Own Risk

From the Washington Post:

An investigative series I've been writing about organized cyber crime gangs stealing millions of dollars from small to mid-sized businesses has generated more than a few responses from business owners who were concerned about how best to protect themselves from this type of fraud.

The simplest, most cost-effective answer I know of? Don't use Microsoft Windows when accessing your bank account online.

I do not offer this recommendation lightly (and at the end of this column you'll find a link to another column wherein I explain an easy-to-use alternative). But I have interviewed dozens of victim companies that lost anywhere from $10,000 to $500,000 dollars because of a single malware infection. I have heard stories worthy of a screenplay about the myriad ways cyber crooks are evading nearly every security obstacle the banks put in their way.

But regardless of the methods used by the bank or the crooks, all of the attacks shared a single, undeniable common denominator: They succeeded because the bad guys were able to plant malicious software that gave them complete control over the victim's Windows computer.

Why is the operating system important? Virtually all of the data-stealing malware in circulation today is built to attack Windows systems, and will simply fail to run on non-Windows computers. Also, the Windows-based malware employed in each of these recent online attacks against businesses was so sophisticated that it made it extremely difficult for banks to tell the difference between a transaction initiated by their customers and a transfer set in motion by hackers who had hijacked that customer's PC.

Yet another reason to use a Mac.