OS X

Mac Gaming Gaining Ground

Published Friday, November 2, 2012 | By Denver Fowler

This is just my own personal observation. As I’m hunting for a new game I’d like to play, I started noticing the flood of games with Mac Betas or fully operational Mac versions, where there was none before.

Games such as the new Guild Wars 2, and old favorites such as Lord of the Rings Online are joining the bunch. I have also seen a few lesser known names joining the push. I may be wrong, but I kind of doubt it. Seems they all share the same impression I have about the new Windows 8 Metro bologna that Microsoft is force feeding the general public… (take breath) Is only going to have faithful computer lovers move to operating systems that don’t suck. Hence Mac with their overly “pretty” OS X desktop environment. However, it is boatloads easier and more comprehensive to use than Metro.

As well as with the unbelievable amount of kick-ass games now available for mobile devices (smartphones and tablets), such as Order and Chaos Online (Android / iOS) and Dark Legends… Many people will simply give up on PC gaming all together. If anything was going to kill PC gaming, Microsoft’s new abomination, Windows 8 has certainly started this decline to eventual oblivion. I for one, do not want a giant ass tablet environment as my “desktop”. I’ll just use my tablet for that nonsense.

Although, this makes me think that if desktop computers has been more like mobile devices are now, people wouldn’t have such a hard time using them. Installing and removing apps are a breeze, you can have wonderful moving desktops and smooth operation. I guess that’s a blog for another day. I know there is an Android Desktop PC kind of gadget, but I feel it could have so much more potential.

This is also a great opportunity for Linux. However, this in my thoughts, would require the Linux Community to come together and have one unified Linux distribution. If they ever want Joe User to come to the dark side, it will take more than cookies to bring them in. They will need an easy to use, and standardized way of doing things. As I’ve noticed, if I say I like Ubuntu. My friends will tell me to try Linux Mint. If everyone is using different distros, no game developer is going to want to waste time on Linux at all. It’s aggravating to see install options for Redhat, Ubuntu, and other flavors just to run one application. Fuck that, unify people!

I digress, but only a little.

As a side note, I am looking for a single player game that plays like an MMO. Hang on now. I know what response you want to give me already. As with everyone else, you will want jump on the acronym of MMO and immediately tell me what an idiot I am. As MMO’s are community driven blah blah blah. I want the mechanics of the game to be like an MMO, not to joining parties and go raiding. I want a game with quests, the ability to explore freely, an inventory, some crafting, but mostly I want skills that I can assign to an action bar. This is hard to find apparently. Most games I find, you are stuck with a specific skill set, like it or not. Which makes everything a text book, figure it out and play. I’d rather be able to pick and choose my skills, arrange them as I see fit and try different strategies to get through the game. Maybe run through it two or three times with different builds. That is what I mean by MMO style. Any suggestions? As for MMO’s, I want to get away more form the PC, so I’d rather a game I can play for 10 minutes or so, hit “Save” and quit.

Got a suggestion? Email Me!

Posted in News | Tagged Apple, Games, Guild Wars 2, Mac, MMORPG, OS X, World of Warcraft

I concur, Windows 8 Sucks!

Published Friday, June 22, 2012 | By Denver Fowler

I couldn’t have said it any better myself. But Michael @ Michael’s Techbox said it as elegantly as it comes. Windows 8 sucks more now in the Customer Preview even more than it did as the Developer Preview which I reviewed a few months ago. (My Developer Preview Review)

Just to give you an idea, all the ranting and raving I did over Mac before I owned one, and even my final frustration with Mac is nothing at all compared to what Windows 8 has in store for the general populous of internet loving citizens the world over. Having played with the Customer Preview myself the past few weeks… In my opinion, it may very well be the final push needed for Mac to take over top dog in the desktop market with Linux still in 3rd place, but gaining ground quickly thereafter. It’s enough to make a grown, seasoned tech cry for mercy and question his/her very existence.

Lets take a look at what both Michael and I agree on:

The biggest thing is Metro. No one without a touch screen is going to bother to upgrade to Windows 8. The few who might do it not thinking, will quickly revert or learn new curse words. Or touch their screen a little too hard in frustration. Metro in the Developer Preview was something you could bypass and regain your start menu and use Windows just fine. It looked good and ran very well. It seemed like Metro was just a program that was simply “hooked” into the OS just as a replacement to the start menu. The Customer Preview, Metro is now heavily integrated into the OS and just shutting the PC down is a multi-step process in agony.

If Microsoft insists on everyone buying new hardware, this is hardly the time to mandate that. The economy while not completely tanked, isn’t in a position to run and buy new gear. That alone won’t work in their favor.

If they insist on making the Desktop a Tablet, they need to ease users into it the way Mac is doing. Mac has a wonderful desktop, but you can get to your applications with a tablet movement on the mousepad or touchpad which can be attached to the computer. Rather than making all their users run out and buy touchscreens at a much higher price point. When they did that in Lion, it was a bit of a culture shock, but within a couple of weeks it was no problem. Having Windows 8 CP the past few weeks. I have even less love for it than ever. It’s not a learning curve. It’s forget all you know and learn again. Knowing customers love of “upgrades” and learning new things, on average, this is going to be more unwelcome for them as it is for the folks like me who have to help them.

If Microsoft wants to make a tablet OS, then fine. I’m all for it. Use it on tablets and phones. Just like Mac does.

I can see once my Windows 7 is finally ready to die, I may very well become a Mac weenie all over again. At least their stuff talks to all other devices with Mac OSes of one sort or other. Although I still think Mac has a ways to go, they may have one hell of a foot up on the desktop market very shortly.

Especially if Microsoft doesn’t give us a way to shut Metro off so that upgraders and power users can have a PC they can still enjoy. While the rest of the world just gives up and goes to Android and Mac tablets. MS loyalists can just suck it and live in their pretend world that Windows 8 will be a revolution. I’ve never been that loyal to MS. Just enough to say I am a PC. Though… Looks like that might change.

Posted in News | Tagged Apple, Microsoft, OS X, Software, Windows 8

Infected Apples

Published Thursday, April 12, 2012 | By Denver Fowler

Just as I predicted, Apples across the globe are becoming infected by malware at an alarming rate because of the mass mindset that is the Apple owner. The “My Mac does not need antivirus, it’s a Mac!” syndrome.

As I’ve said, “Security is still something most Mac users take for granted. They don’t understand that prevention is better than patching a known problem.”.

I also said, “As I’ve said before, Macs have viruses too. And with the current growth rate, the bullseye is only getting bigger on Apple’s flagship product. My personal opinion is if you have a Mac and don’t think you need an antivirus software, you’re an idiot.”.

If you think that your Mac laptop/desktop is safe, think again! The (misplaced) confidence of Mac users, about the security of its operating system may backfire, as happened again, recently in the case of the BackDoor.Flashback.39, also known simply as Flashback Trojan. More than 600,000 Mac machines have been affected and with no appropriate guidelines from Apple on how to counter that or stay safe, the count may be on the rise. It is said that the infection rates are comparable to the Conficker botnet, which infected many Windows machines.

Source and read more @ The Windows Club

This is one of those times when “I told ya so!”, makes me feel so evil and good at the same time

The mindset Mac owners have will be their undoing {evil laugh}

This is not by far the first virus for Macs and it certainly won’t be the last. However, I wonder what this will do for Apple’s growth rate on the market. I’m also curious when the iPads and iPhones will be struck next. Even though my phone is a Droid, I use antivirus. Not because there are known issues, but to prevent having issues. It’s called thinking ahead.

Posted in News | Tagged Apple, Computers, Internet, OS X, Security

I am a PC!

Published Thursday, January 12, 2012 | By Denver Fowler

In this post, I’m going beyond all the things I’ve already covered repeatedly in my previous posts about Macs vs PCs. Such as for $1800 it should come with something more than the goofy iMovie, Garage Band and iPhoto. Like they could’ve tossed in some rip off of Office or their Pages crap at least to make it productive. Not going to go into how I get more for less with a PC, or how much easier it is to find good freeware and open source software. This post is going to be about the things I’ve had to deal with in the past six months that piss me off about Macs. In so much as I’ve concluded that I will only keep my Mac around for reference and education, but I won’t be using it for day to day use. This way I can actually get something accomplished.

File Associations

When Windows doesn’t know what to do with a file you’ve downloaded, however you know that it can be opened by a program you have installed; you can associate the file by it’s extension. You simply right click it and choose “open” or “open with”. Then browse to the appropriate program, put a check mark in “always use this program to open this kind of file”. Bam, all files with that extension will open with the program in question in the future.

My example is a Shockwave Flash file ending in *.swf. Normally I simply tell Windows to open the file with Firefox. One time deal and I’m done.

On the Mac, it had a similar function. It even had the check box to say remember this setting. However, apparently Mac goes by file name in general. So when I open one file such as “mymovie.swf” it does what I tell it to do and open in Firefox. However, when I try “myothermovie.swf”, Mac goes stupid and doesn’t know to open it with Firefox. I go back to the first file and it opens fine. Thus telling me, I have to associate each and every file individually. What a pain in the ass.

Just install Windows to play games

This is what I get told, when I complain about the lack of games for Mac. If I wanted to spend another $100 to install Windows just so I can play games… Hey, I got an idea, why not just buy a Windows based gaming laptop and it will not only come with decent productive software, but it can play games too! NO extra cost needed! Plus, I’ll get all those nifty keys I love so much! Like Insert, a proper Delete Key, Backspace, Home and End. And when I get the whim to play said games, I won’t need to reboot. Gee, that works out swell!

Dashboards and Widgets

The dashboard. Just how useless is this thing? So, if I want desktop widgets (or gadgets), I can only have them in this dashboard area. Kind of negates the usefulness of being able to “glance” at the weather. Instead I have to go or “swipe” my way to the dashboard to look at it. The calculator widget. So to the special dashboard to play with the calculator. It’s just as fast to look through the apps menu, or dock it to the dock bar. What Apple’s developers couldn’t figure out how to put them on the desktop like every other OS does? Windows… Linux… I’ve got a swipe motion for the dashboard, it’s my middle finger!

Uninstalling Software does not remove settings

This I’ve found can cause some issues if you want to remove a software by simply removing the app from the applications folder. If you don’t show hidden files and go into the Library and rip out the applications settings, you may find yourself hurting when trying to reinstall the application. I’ve only run into this a couple of times, but still what a hellacious pain the ass that is. Guess there’s something to say about having an uninstaller for every program now isn’t there.

Crap Files

Macs love their crap files. You can’t see them, they are hidden. But if you want to zip up some files and shift them to your windows machine, you get a boatload of stupid files you didn’t see before. Some zip programs for Mac can clean this up for you, but what the hell is all this mess for? I’ve seen “thumbs.db” and “desktop.ini” on Windows, but not a huge mess of “._name of file.whatever”. Plus these things can take a good sized chunk of space up too. On a USB thumb drive, I found as much as 120mb of this nonsense. Space I really needed as the thumb drive is nearly full as it is. No matter how many times you remove them, just popping it in the Mac they all come back like a bad rash.

Cycling through open windows

Maybe there’s a trick I have yet to learn, but this confounds me too. On Windows, if I have my email, my editor, my photo editor and several copies of my browser open, I can cycle through each open window by using ALT+TAB. For me, it’s loads faster than “swiping”. On the Mac, I can do similar with using OPTION+TAB. However if I have several copies of the same program running (like the browser), it only goes the top most window for it and then on to the next program rather than opening up the next window of the browser. If I want to change windows in the browser, I have to click on “window” and the sub-title of that window to get it to come forward.

There are other things that annoy me about the mac, mostly trivial. It’s like a camel carrying straw though. Sure each piece of straw is light and small, but pile enough of them on, and eventually you’ll reach “the straw that broke the camel’s back“.

… The worst part is, I’ve had this damned Mac for over 6 months now, and I’m still paying it off. Good thing I’ve chalked it up to an educational item, or I’d really be pissed off. Wonder if they have a good resale value. Then I could get a new Windows laptop and enough left over to make a decent size deposit in my savings account! Owning a Mac is a lot like a relationship I’ve had. Looks pretty, costs a lot, and if you want it to be productive, you’ll have to spend even more. Then it clutters up your storage with useless crap. Also, others seem to have more fun with it than you do.

Macs are what they are, and fit who feels comfortable with them. Providing they have the pocketbook to afford it. Plus all the extras they’ll need to buy. For me, I am now and always have been a PC.

p.s. Linux lovers, I’ve tried that too, you can go through all my Mac posts, and replace the words Mac, OS X and Apple with Linux and have just about the exact same experience minus the cost. Personally, I think Linspire had something going for ease of use and loads of software with super simple installations, but it apparently wasn’t enough as they got swallowed up and made to go away. In any case, not going there again either.

Now to try out that Windows 8 Developers Preview. See what all the fuss is about there. I’m not getting my hopes up for it, but I can always just learn it and revert back to Windows 7.

Posted in News | Tagged Computers, Games, OS X, Software, Windows 7, Windows 8

So… What’s so great about Macs?

Published Monday, December 5, 2011 | By Denver Fowler

Now that my “shiny new toy” syndrome has worn off, and have had a solid 6 months to actually learn and use a Mac… I’m seriously failing to see what is so great about them. Granted, my budget doesn’t allow me to get an iPhone or an iPad to check out the features you get when you mix them up on the same network or using the AirDrop feature. Still, I’m not sure that would “wow” me. Here’s some of the reasons I say this.

Insert, Home, End, DEL, CTRL & Printscreen

As an HTML and PHP person, the Insert, Home, End and CTRL keys are an absolute must for me to get things done efficiently. They are also very handy for playing Warcraft. The lack of these keys frustrate me to no end.

There is a CTRL key, why the hell can’t I use it!?! Well, I can, but it seems only if I Remote into my Windows computer or if I use terminal. OK sure I use both on a daily basis. But then I want to copy and paste items or text, I have to use the Command key instead. Why not just make the CTRL key work for that too? Seems pointless to have both keys.

The delete key is also very deceiving. It does not work the same as a Windows machine. If you expect it to delete, it backspaces instead. You have to use a FN or function key to make it delete rather than backspace. Directionally challenged are they at Apple? Tis backwards and piss me off much it does. Also, why a FN key? Kind of confusing against the already present F1, F2.. etc keys. That… you have to use the FN key to utilize as they too are set to other functions rather than F1, F2.. etc… My head hurts just thinking about it.

Printscreen! Dammit I want to printscreen! Oh wait… no I need to do origami with my fingers and do SHIFT+COMMAND+3 to get a screenshot. Oh sure, there are apps that make screenshots easier but that means I have to download and install something that is already native to the OS, but it’s causing me to develop arthritis using it.

A Software Comparative

For the most part, I’m able to use my Open Office and other programs much like I do on my Windows PC. However, there are a few software items (such as my text/code/html editor, my web design software and photo editor) that I use daily that either are not available for Mac or their Mac counterparts are slow and/or suck. For example, I do miracles with graphics and photos in my free Paint.net for my PC. On Mac, I’m either faced with a bastardized version of GIMP (and I’ve always hated trying to use GIMP) or I can use Pixelmator which for the most part looks the part and has many similar features, but the learning curve makes me just say “Eff this, I’ll do it later on my PC”. So I’ve paid $30 for a software I barely use. Just going back to use my freeware that works wonders. My only other choices are Pinta (that needs some serious work, but is shooting to be a Paint.net clone), or Adobe Photoshop and I sincerely think only professionals can afford it and I still believe they are bat-shit crazy to pay $700 for graphics software. Sure it’s the shizznit. Bring it down to $199 and I’ll jump at it. But again, it’s like paying $1800 for a Macbook Pro when I did just fine with my $500 Sony Viao before hand.

Games

I’m a PC gamer dammit! This Macbook Pro has just as good of hardware as I have in my desktop. (well… save for the graphics card. but it’s darn close!) I can play Warcraft and some older games that were recently “ported” to Mac. But I can’t play my newer games because software developers still aren’t on the Mac bandwagon for the most part.

Although, Mac still may be the way to go over Windows 8

I’m dreading it. Not only from an end user standpoint but also as a tech. I’m just waiting for customers to run out and buy a shiny new Windows 8 machine on a ARM processor type of hardware build and find that none of their software will work because they didn’t pay attention or have the knowledge to know that they needed an X86 based processor. I don’t understand making an OS that can run on two totally different architectures when most of the software won’t. Which in my mind, will drive more people to Macs when they get frustrated over this. I don’t think Microsoft realizes not everyone will want to go out and buy all new software that may not even meet their needs. So when the time comes, Mac may be the way to go. For them at least. However, I may be wrong in my assumptions of Windows 8, but from what I’ve gathered…. Yikes…

Patches, Security and Maintenance

After having this Mac for several months now, I don’t see how anyone can complain about Windows patches and security. The OS and other software get updates and patches just about every week. I check them everyday. As I do with my Windows software and what-not. Patches are patches and are needed to keep things secure and/or running smoothly. Seems they are running neck and neck for patches.

Security is still something most Mac users take for granted. They don’t understand that prevention is better than patching a known problem. Patches only come out after something has been found to be wrong and already exploited on hundreds or even thousands of computers. Possibly millions if patched too late. Then that’s even if the end user has bothered to check for updates and patches. OR if the end user even bothers installing the updates or patches. Nothing like hearing “every time I run an update something else breaks”. Sounds like something was already broken, and the update only made it more prevalent. It’s not like they are pushed every few minutes like a security software would do. With an antivirus, most use Heuristic scanning techniques and/or Sandboxing. Heuristics basically means if it smells like a virus, or tastes like a virus or behaves like a virus, it’s a virus until proven innocent. Sandboxing is let me see what it does virtually before I let it do what it does for real to prove it’s safe to play with. As I’ve said before, Macs have viruses too. And with the current growth rate, the bullseye is only getting bigger on Apple’s flagship product. My personal opinion is if you have a Mac and don’t think you need an antivirus software, you’re an idiot. As well, like I said previously, my Mac came with the Firewall turned off. It should be turned on so that any known open exploit in the OS can’t be easily found by some hacker. A firewall helps keep unwanted outside traffic at bay. Leaving others who don’t bother to run their firewall software to be a bigger target than you.

Maintenance is something Mac users also take for granted. I take calls from Mac users just like PC users saying “It’s running so slowly!”. Macs make all these silly little files for what reason I’m not really sure. But however, they build up and while I’m not an expert on Mac OS stuff, I do know that there are tools to help folks out with this. Onyx is a tool to clear up unused silly files that build up on Macs and I can attest that it works like a charm. I’ve also added a beta of CCleaner, the same thing I use for my PC to clear up junk files as well. It even comes in handy for uninstalling programs.

So overall, I’m still doing just as much work to use and maintain my Mac as I do my PC’s. As well as I only use my Macbook Pro half as much as I did my Windows based laptops, and I’m not getting much joy from it either… So what’s the big deal? Other than it is nice to look at, and it has solid tech support, it’s still 4x the cost of a PC. Sure you’ve got brand style. You probably also drink Starbucks and eat at Bonefish Grill everyday too if you can afford such a thing. I drink brewed coffee and bring my lunch to work like most folks do.

Posted in News | Tagged Apple, OS X, Windows 7, Windows 8

First 30 Days with my Mac

Published Thursday, July 7, 2011 | By Denver Fowler

Well, I finally went and did it. It’s actually a very big step for me. I’m actually out in public right now, writing up the draft of what will be my overview of owning a Mac for 30 days. ^{(7/4 & 7/5)} I’m at the local Starbucks by Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA. The social recluse is starting to go out into public. Let’s see if I can start making this a regular thing.

Go ahead Tyler. Snicker all you like.

Anyway, so it’s been 30 days since I first opened the white box and saw the machine I’m using right this moment. So what do I think? I can say my opinion of Mac’s has changed drastically. However, I’m not going to be the misled sheep that you so often find connected to one of these things. I’m also not the goof who will run around boasting I’m safer and better than everyone else. There are some limitations I have yet to overcome with this Mac. And yet, there is a world of good things to say as well. So I’m right now I think I am a level headed medium of computer ownership. It sincerely depends on what you want, versus what you need and can afford. Though mostly what you will do with the computer that makes the absolute difference. Though I can tell you that next time I sit to write a blog from a coffee shop, I’ll choose a more comfortable chair. This wooden one has already made my bum fall asleep from the lack of comfort.

Design

The MacBook Pro is certainly designed to be elegant and yet super functional. Having worked in a Machine Shop for a couple of years and working with CNC machines, I can sincerely appreciate the dedication and time they put into making the Unibody. Though it’s far from being one piece in my opinion since the “body” should be all parts encompassing the inside parts. Though it surely cuts down on amount of parts and does give the laptop a huge amount of panache. It’s sleek and sexy and certainly says “Look at me”. And since I’m not very pretty, at least my Mac will turn some heads.

Software

Again, the included software left a whole lot to be desired. When you spend $1800 for a computer, you’d like to see more productivity software included and not so much social networking. That should be left to the iPad and iPod Touch or the sub $1000 computers and lap tops. Thankfully being a resourceful person and über-geek-extraordinaire, I was able to quickly overcome most of the obstacles. So I can have an office suite, coding and programming tools as well as some games to successfully waste time when I have it. Which lately, is a lot (and I’m on vacation ). I did have to purchase a decent Zip Program (File Compression) which I managed to catch at 50% off in the “App Store” for $9.99 and still need to pay for the Pixelmator (Photo Editing Program). I’m currently using in demo mode. While it’s not as nicely laid out or free like Paint.net (which is all I need on a PC), it is only $29.95 which is infinitely cheaper than Photoshop by Adobe. Which is currently going for a stomach wrenching $699. How do folks get duped into paying that much for software? If I were to pay for it, I had better get a life servant/lover out of that deal. I tried to use a Paint.net clone for Macs, Pinta, but it has miles to go before it can be considered a decent clone. Thankfully both of the programs I need to buy are worlds cheaper than their Windows PC counterparts. Odd huh? You’d think having to pay a lot of money for an American designed, assembled and supported machine, the software would also be astronomical. Thankfully it’s not. At least not the majority of it.

Security

Well as I stated before, that has been a myth for years as documented by this fine website. Recent events have proven just how “not so” it is. Honestly, people should think about it. If such a thing were true, all the worlds governments simply need to switch to Macs and we can live in safe peace forever.

Seriously though. They claim to have safe guards in place, but why was my firewall turned off by default? Any known exploit would easily be used the moment an unsuspecting user connected directly to the net with their cable modem. You’d be surprised how many folks do not use routers. They have firewalls (turned on) by default. Cable Modem + No Firewall = Bad

These “safe guards” are only good if the customer ensures to check for patches for their OS daily. If an exploit comes along and they aren’t patched. The end user is going to be unhappy to say the least. Besides, “safe guards” still don’t account for lack of common sense to protect one self from Phishing, Identity Theft and Viruses. You still need security software. Just to prove it, I tested my Mac using the Beta of Avast! for Macs. Just to see if the little bugger worked. Avast as always, has never let me down and I’m still safe to say my Mac is still safe and sound even though I went looking for trouble.

Other Thoughts

As for using it, I’m more than comfortable using the Mac. I feel very confident I can start giving technical support and helping people make good choices for their Macs. And that was the goal for me. I’m 80% ready to go in that field. I’ll be 100% in no time. Maybe even get myself qualified as a “Genius“. I do frequently tout myself to be one for PC’s, why not officially for Macs too! We’ll have to see if my self training pays off first I guess.

I still struggle with the whole “command” “control” key thing and I sincerely miss my HOME, INSERT and END keys. I’m sure my fingers will adjust in time.

It’s certainly a beautiful machine. It is very impressive in design, video and play some mean 3D video games. I’m very glad I made the decision to buy it.

I do need to pay it off yet and still need to come up with another $350 to get the extended AppleCare Protection Plan. For a machine like this, it would be well worth the purchase as it’s built to last, both internally and externally.

So ah… Any website design or WordPress theme work would be welcome to help me pay for all this

Posted in News | Tagged Apple, OS X, Security, Software, Technology

CCleaner comes to Mac!

Published Tuesday, June 28, 2011 | By Denver Fowler

It’s so nice to see the software products I know and trust for my PC’s are coming to OS X Macs. Yes, I’m becoming quite the fanboy of something I so often complained about. I guess it’s because I never really gave Mac a chance. I still do not find Macs to be better than PC’s. Sorry but I just don’t. I do find them to be a nice alternative for some folks and I think this will be a life long relationship. Me and my Mac that is. It’s a very nice piece of hardware.

So I use CCleaner like 5 times a day. If I find myself on a questionable website, I can rest mostly assured that I can trash the temp data quickly and cleanly with CCleaner. I like to keep my machine clean of trash files that build up over time. Granted, Macs do not have a registry to deal with, but on my Windows machines it’s a god send to be able to clean up useless registry entries from all the software I download, try and then realize I don’t like the downloaded software and uninstall it. Never fails, it leaves crap behind that CCleaner (formerly known as Crap Cleaner – hence the C), quickly and cleanly swipes it out of the machine. Then a nice quick defrag from either Piriforms Defraggler (or the one I use by Auslogics) and my machines stay running smooth as silk.

Now that hey have it for Macs, I can keep my new baby running clean and smooth I’m tellin ya folks, Macs are gaining ground quick, time to invest in some of that stock!! I would if I could!!

Click Here to get CCleaner for your Mac or Here for your PC!

Posted in News | Tagged OS X, Software

Avast! Free Antivirus for Macs!

Published Sunday, June 19, 2011 | By Denver Fowler

Here’s a bit of wonderful news to add to my new Mac experience. The antivirus I’ve been trusting heart and soul for the past 5 or so years, is now making a free version for Macs.

I have to agree with the company Avast! for their reasoning for releasing such a product. They’ve had a Mac version for some time now but as they recognize, Mac users aren’t as safe as they are led to believe. I, myself have read some horrific stories in just the past few weeks how users of Macs are getting their systems infected with malware or hi-jacked to spy on people in the shower as noted in these stories: Updated rogue AV installs on Macs without password – Mac tech jailed for hacking webcams to spy on women

In my opinion, this primrose path of Mac users thinking that their machines are “safe from all harm”, has been walked too far for too long as it is.

As said by Ondrej Vlcek, CTO of AVAST Software:

“It’s time for Mac users to start thinking about an antivirus app and this beta shows what they will need for their protection. The Mac has long had a ‘cloak of invulnerability’ because its small market share made it a fringe target for malware. As Mac sales surge it is becoming a natural target for malware such as the Pinhead and Boonana Trojans or the MacDefender fake antivirus.”

Here’s a screenshot of the easy to use interface:

Click for Larger Image

Initial Thoughts on My Mac

Published Thursday, June 9, 2011 | By Denver Fowler

As you could tell by my initial post, I am now the owner of a MacBook Pro. Yes, the post was a bit moody, but it was to convey the exact feeling I get when a self-indulgent weenie Mac owner approaches me with their sales pitch on how I should go Mac. People who have read the post that work in my field, have already conveyed that I “hit the nail” on the proverbial “head”, as they too have felt the sting of Mac owners.

The pain has yet to subside in my wallet and I’m sure an ass chewing is soon to ensue as I don’t discuss what I do with others in my house anymore. In any case, it’s certainly cheaper than going to school, but I can only prove my knowledge with real world answers as I won’t be a Certified Mac Genius because of the path I chose to give me said knowledge. It’s worked well for me in the past getting a job at Gateway, but we know how that turned out. Perhaps I can get some respect from my current employer in the form of a boost in pay or if need be, perhaps I’ll find such respect elsewhere. That matter has yet to come to pass in any case.

Cost

This is the most important point in my opinion, especially since our economy is so close to the tank right now. It’s the number one reason my life at home is so uncomfortable. So buying this Mac is only going to cause me headaches of the “you bought what!?!!?” kind. The Sony VIAO I just sold last week, was listing around $599. I could’ve bought 3 of those total and still spent less on them than I did on the Mac. Again, it’s for education, so it’s still less than paying for classes that for all I know, may not even exist or only be taught in Cupertino, CA as I don’t recall OS X as part of the A+ certification and certainly not part of the MCSE certification. Though it would be super cool to be called a Certified Mac Genius.

Ease of Use

This one I’m going to flounder with describing. I always try to look at things like a customer does. Sadly the majority of the customers I deal with I would need to hit myself in the head with a sledgehammer to think like they do. Though in all seriousness I do try to think like I know nothing and try to take an outside look to figure whether or not someone could figure out what I can. Using common sense and logic (yes, I know…. don’t say it).

However, I was extremely surprised how quickly I was able to figure out 80% of what I wanted this thing to do right off the bat. Had it hooked to the wireless first thing and was off to the races poking about and finding where my documents, pictures and other files should go and how to open and use the applications installed. How to remove, move and add things to the dock bar. Super simple.

I’m not sure an everyday PC user would get used to “mounting”. Anything you plug in or CD/DVD you insert gets mounted to the OS and then you get an icon on the desktop. You must eject it before disconnecting. Though I have also I seen a lot of PC users just yank out their USB flash drives with out using the “safely remove” icon in the system tray. I imagine Mac users do the same thing essentially.

I can however, see every day folks working on Macs. Big pretty icons galore. Oh wait… Windows Vista/7 has those too. Setting up email wasn’t too terribly hard. Though Mac Mail 4.5 does not do the best job of handling Gmail apparently. I find that I have to delete things in the Inbox and All Mail separately which is annoying. Though I recall the early versions of Thunderbird and Windows Live Mail being guilty of the same thing. Perhaps the new OS X Lion with Mac Mail 5, (due in Summer) will also address a fix for that.

Visuals

I’m not talking about just the desktop and how pretty the big icons are. This thing is visually stunning at every turn! The aluminum body is sleek and sexy, the screen is shiny as far as the glass goes. The display is awesome! The colors are so rich and deep. Even loading up World of Warcraft, this thing blew me away and made me mourn the fact that I just upgraded my Video card on my desktop. It may have the speed, but it doesn’t have the depth this laptop does. The laptops 3D graphics are nearly as fast but I can’t turn things up all the way. Still it looks phenomenal. Not too mention everything moves so fluidly. In game and normal applications. That floored me.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard is a learning curve for me. It has control keys but you use the Command key as you would use the control key on a PC. That’s just confusing. So what is the control key for? The “F” (function) Keys are not on by default. Instead you use them for system functions like brightness and volume or media playing primarily. Again, confusing. Home, Insert and End are missing completely and as a website designer I use those constantly. So programming is going to suck eggs. The Delete key is the backspace key and there is no backspace and since delete works like the backspaced you delete in reverse and the sideways motion of the …… what the fuck? In short I hate the layout of the keyboard and missing keys. That’s going to take a lot to get used too. I will say this, the auto back lighting for the keyboard when it gets in a dim environment is super cool!

The touchpad is cool and unlike my previous laptops, it doesn’t interfere with my typing. The multi-touch is amazing, you can twist, zoom and do all sorts of gestures to get it to do what you want. It’s not a huge feature I will ever take advantage of, but it certainly works well.

Speed

The MacBook Pro is just as fast as my desktop gaming PC. It screams as opening up applications and games and is really a pleasure to work with as far as not having to wait long for anything at all. It boots up just as fast which I like to keep my boot times around a minute or less. This certainly does the same thing.

Security

I was terribly disappointed that Mac not only chooses to omit any antivirus software, but the firewall was off by default. I get that they are less vulnerable to viruses. Still I don’t see why they don’t at least recommend something for it. But to have the firewall off? A novice user, would hook up to a cable modem and off to the races to the internet, where anyone with knowledge of an exploit would have open access to the users brand new system. To me, the firewall being off is completely unacceptable. Needless to say I turned the firewall on.

Software

The software bundled with the machine isn’t what I would think they everyday user needs. Sure Garage Band, iMovie, Photo Booth sound like a lot of fun, but outside of internet and email, the Mac isn’t what I would call productive and useful. Maybe the majority of Mac users enjoy adding another $200 – $300 dollars for Microsoft Office for Macs to their enormous cost of buying the laptop in the first place. Not me. Thankfully a good chunk of my freeware is Mac capable. And what I couldn’t find on my list I was able to find in the AppStore that is included on the Mac. So far, I haven’t had to spend a penny on software. Though not all of my tools are on here yet. I’m still searching.

Installing software is easier than I had expected. There seems to be 3 different install types, but they all are easy and things have so far, just worked. That’s a hell of a bonus for something that up until now was completely foreign to me. Will a normal user be able to do it? For the most part I think they could actually. I didn’t have to do any research really, just follow the pretty pictures or instructions.

Warcraft

I know that games are a somewhat lacking feature of the Mac. WoW works out of the box, which is cool. But I didn’t expect the bonuses I found. Turns out that most games, if you want to record what you do in them, you have to use a third party app to “capture” what is in game. Such as Fraps or WeGame. As I was tweaking the settings to my liking, I found that WoW for Mac has a built in application to use Quicktime to record what you do in game and do so in H.264 format. Nice! Then I saw that they also had in-game controls for using iTunes while playing. Something I wish I had for WinAmp in Warcraft on my PC! I have yet to play with either of these features though.

Of course as I said before, WoW looked stunning on the Mac. So much deeper and rich than it is on my PC. The boss thinks it’s the display that does it. I’m wondering if it’s the AMD video they use on the Mac. As I have strictly used Nvidia for my PC. Hmmm… Some research will have to be done to find out.

Other Things of Note

The power cord is super cool. It’s modular so you can change the plug out for something that would work in European countries. It’s also magnetized at the connection to the MacBook so it just clicks itself into place without nearly any effort and can break away easily if the user inadvertently gets up and walks off with it plugged in!

It is heavier than most laptops. But it’s because of the aluminum body and the battery cells being much larger.

There is no vent holes for the CPU/GPU to breathe from. I’m only guessing they use the body as a giant heatsink. It gets warm but not nearly as hot as my Sony did.

Conclusion

Well I’m far from concluded on Macs. End story is I own one now. I’ll keep you up to date as to my experiences with it. So far, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be and certainly easier than I expected. There’s a lot of little things I have yet to get into. I will say that the image you see in the corner of this post I edited on the Mac. Wow, word count for this post is 1836.

And for you Mac Weenies, I dedicate this song to you.

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Posted in News | Tagged Apple, Blog, New, OS X

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