Texas-The newest Country

The Country of Texas ~ being that Texas is the only state with a legal right to secede from the Union . (Reference the Texas-American Annexation Treaty of 1848.)

We Texans love y'all, but we'll probably have to take action if Barack Obama wins the election. We'll miss you too.

Here is what can happen:

1: Barack Hussein Obama is President of the United States, and Texas secedes from the Union in summer of 2013.

2: George W. Bush will become the President of the Republic of Texas . You might not think that he talks too pretty, but we hadn't had another terrorist attack, and the economy was fine until the effects of the Democrats lowering the qualifications for home loans came to roost.
So what does Texas have to do to survive as a Republic?

1. NASA is just south of Houston , Texas . We will control the space industry.

2. We refine over 85% of the gasoline in the United States .

3. Defense Industry--we have over 65% of it. The term "Don't mess with Texas," will take on a whole new meaning.

4. Oil - we can supply all the oil that the Republic of Texas will need for the next 300 years. What will the other states do? Gee, we don't know. Why not ask Obama?

5. Natural Gas - again we have all we need, and it's too bad about those Northern States. John Kerry and Al Gore will have to figure out a way to keep them warm....

6. Computer Industry - we lead the nation in producing computer chips and communications equipment -small companies like Texas Instruments, Dell Computer, EDS, Raytheon, National Semiconductor,Motorola, Intel, AMD, Atmel, Applied Materials, Ball Microconductor, Dallas Semiconductor, Nortel, Alcatel, etc, etc. The list goes on and on.

7. Medical Care - We have the research centers for cancer research, the best burn centers and the top trauma units in the world, as well as other large health centers. The Houston Medical Center alone employees over 65,000 people.

8. We have enough colleges to keep us getting smarter: University of
Texas , Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Texas Christian, Rice, SMU, University
of Dallas , University of Houston , Baylor, UNT ( University of North
Texas ), Texas Women's University, etc. Ivy grows better in the South anyway. 
9. We have an intelligent and energetic work force, and it isn't restricted by a bunch of unions. Here in Texas , it's a Right toWork State and, therefore, it's every man and women for themselves. We just go out and get the job done. And if we don't like the way one company operates, we get a job somewhere else.

10. We have essential control of the paper, plastics, and insurance industries, etc.

11. In case of a foreign invasion, we have the Texas National Guard, the Texas Air National Guard, and several military bases. We don't have an Army, but since everybody down here has at least six rifles and a pile of ammo, we can raise an Army in 24 hours if we need one. If the situation really gets bad, we can always call the Department of Public Safety and ask them to send over the Texas Rangers. 
12. We are totally self-sufficient in beef, poultry, hogs, and several types of grain, fruit and vegetables, and let's not forget seafood from the Gulf. Also, everybody down here knows how to cook them so that they taste good. Don't need any food.

13. Three of the ten largest cities in the United States , and twenty- three of the 100 largest cities in the United States , are located inTexas. And Texas also has more land than California , New York , New Jersey , Connecticut , Delaware , Hawaii , Massachusetts , Maryland , Rhode Island and Vermont combined.

14. Trade: Three of the ten largest ports in the United States are located in Texas .

15. We also manufacture cars down here, but we don't need to. You see, nothing rusts in 
Texas, so our vehicles stay beautiful and run well for decades.

This just names a few of the items that will keep the Republic of Texas in good shape. There isn't a thing out there that we need and don't have.

Now to the rest of the United States under President Obama: Since you won't have the refineries to get gas for your cars, only President Obama will be able to drive around in his big 5 mpg SUV.The rest of the United States will have to walk or ride bikes.

You won't have any TV as the Space Center in Houston will cut off satellite communications. You won't have any natural gas to heat your homes, but since Mr. Obama has predicted global warming, you will not need the gas as long as you survive the 2000 years it will take to get enough heat from Global Warming. 

Signed,
The People of Texas

P.S. This is not a threatening letter - just a note to give you something to think about!

SLEEP WELL TONIGHT - THE EYES OF TEXAS ARE UPON YOU!!

Remember the movie "Minority Report" ? Its here

Well if you think that the book "1984" was scary, then you saw "Minority Report" it made the previous look like a boy scouts handbook! Well it is here now, not like the movie that takes place in 2054! Read this:

Your Smartphone Can See You

The movie Minority Report depicts a world where a widespread facial recognition network tracks your day-to-day movements in public spaces.

Imagine individual cameras instantly scanning your face next time you take a casual stroll down the street.

Once the facial recognition software confirms your identity, it examines your personal and financial profile. It uses the information to tailor the advertisements you may hear the next time you enter a department store.

It can also identify your location for law enforcement purposes. As in the film, if an elite "pre-crime" police unit concludes that you're about to commit a murder, you'll be arrested, detained, and eventually placed into suspended animation - forever.

Minority Report was set in 2054. When I saw the movie, that date was far enough away to make me believe I wasn't likely to witness the events it depicted in my lifetime.

I was wrong.

Minority Report is here, today. But instead of a network of fixed cameras, every person carrying a smartphone with the appropriate application will be able to identify you through face recognition software.

Here's what could pop up next...

No, this isn't science fiction.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University recently photographed 93 students with a smart-phone - all of whom had Facebook profiles - entering a building. The software then compared those images with a database of Facebook photos of people on the CMU network.

One out of three people in the study was successfully matched to the Facebook photos, and for about one-fourth of the students, researchers retrieved their date and place of birth, along with fragments of their Social Security numbers.

This is Just the Beginning...

Face recognition technology is rapidly improving. Eventually, showing your face in public could mean that anyone you encounter can learn enough information to steal your identity simply by snapping a photo with a smartphone.

If you voluntarily post information on the Internet, available for anyone to retrieve, can those who do so make it available to others? The courts have ruled there is no "expectation of privacy" in such information, so I see no reason why they couldn't.

I'm not aware of any commercial application combining face recognition with online photos and databases. However, police are already using similar applications.

Meet "MORIS," the Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System. MORIS is a handheld face recognition device that plugs into a smart phone. Law-enforcement agencies across the U.S. have ordered 1,000 MORIS units, scheduled for delivery this month.

If a cop wants to find out who you are, he just snaps a picture with his smartphone. He then searches a database to learn if you have a criminal record. MORIS can also take your fingerprints, and match them to criminal history records.

The manufacturer of MORIS, BI2 Technologies, urges police not to use the face recognition feature without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. But if you're in a public place, the courts have concluded that you have a greatly reduced expectation of privacy. Just anyone with a camera, including a cop, can legally take your picture in a public space.

(The reverse, however, is definitely NOT true. If you photograph - or especially, record the voice - of a cop or any other public official, you might be arrested. Indeed, an Illinois man who recently recorded his interactions with a judge in an open court hearing now faces life in prison.)

How Can You Protect Yourself?

Short of never leaving your home, or living in a sparsely-populated rural setting, it will be impossible to avoid the Minority Report world completely. But, there are some steps you can take to lower your vulnerability:

* Delete your photos from social networking sites, dating sites, and especially Facebook. If you're unwilling to delete your photos, make sure to mark your profile as "private."

* Don't post photos of your friends or family members online. Not only does this jeopardize their privacy, it also helps marketers and investigators construct a social network of those with whom you interact.

* To minimize the amount of information about you available online, consider a service such as Reputation.com to remove personal information from websites that market it.

* Always use a post office box or a mail receiving service to send and receive mail and packages—never your home address. Even something as innocent as ordering a pizza delivered to your home address can result in that information recorded in an online database.

* If you have a website, copyright all information you post on it. That way, anyone using that information for any purpose beyond what copyright law defines as "fair use" may be subject to legal sanctions.

What about wearing a hat and dark glasses? That may work for now, but eventually face recognition software will evolve into body recognition and even gait software. Even if you've disguised yourself as George W. Bush and wear a big sombrero as you walk down the street, your body shape and unique walking pattern will eventually reveal your identity.

It’s a brave new world, folks...

Social Networks toppling Gov.s Can it happen here?

Here is a piece that should be read by everyone, but in the western world the US is far ahead of the others! Is obama becoming Egypts mobarak? First he wanted to extend the Patriot Act indefinitely that takes away many liberties and freedoms from Americans. It had its time like a Marshall Law, but it hasn't done much except slow down the public when and where-ever they can. Well read this!

It was the “tweet” heard ‘round the world.

It’s a sign of the times when people online declare war on freedom oppressors. And as we’ve all learned from watching events in Egypt over the last three weeks, a call to arms in cyberspace is no less effective than in a town square.
The end result is the same - an embattled dictator gave up power after stubborn refusals to leave a position he’s held for three decades.

Some say President Mubarak would still be in charge if not for the power of social networking. Sites like Facebook and Twitter served as critical tools for protestors seeking to topple the long-time ruler.
Mubarak knew this...and in a typically dictatorial move, the now-ousted president ordered the Internet shuttered and mobile phone services switched off.
It’s the kind of move one would expect of an oppressor - hardly the world’s poster child for freedom and democracy.

Could it happen in America?

It’s already happening...Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week admonished Mubarak’s government for imposing an Internet blackout, calling it a baseless attempt to limit free speech during a time of social upheaval.
Can you believe that President Obama is pressing for a similar law that would give him the power to use an Internet “kill switch?” It would allow the president to block access to the web if an Egypt-style revolt or other unrest occurred in the U.S.
This power-grab is only one example of the U.S. government’s latest incursions on our civil liberties.
Democratic power brokers including the Obama White House and Senators Feinstein and Leahy teamed up with Republican leaders in Congress to extend three provisions in the Bush-era PATRIOT Act that give the government sweeping surveillance powers.
Nothing like “bipartisan cooperation” in Washington, eh?
Obama Wants to Read Your Email Not to be outdone, Obama’s Department of Justice wants a new law, too.
This one would require Internet companies to retain data and records of user activity online. In doing so, the Obama administration is supporting measures advocated by the Bush administration that pose a grave threat to free speech and freedom of the Internet. The sweeping legislation would cover cell phone service, Internet records, and email.
If this legislation is passed, it would jeopardize the privacy of millions of Americans who use the Internet. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) notes, “A legal obligation to log users’ Internet use... would dangerously expand the government’s ability to surveil its citizens, damage privacy, and chill freedom of expression.”
Once again, congressional Republicans are more than happy to cooperate in passing such a law - anything to go after those awful terrorists... even if it shreds the U.S. Constitution.

Laptops Galore

Although they can cite no legal basis for their high-handed actions, the Department of Homeland Security claims that its agents have the right to look though the contents of an international traveler's electronic devices, including laptops, cameras and cell phones.
If only the injustice stopped there - agents can also keep the devices or copy the contents in order to continue searching them once the traveler has been allowed to enter the U.S., regardless of whether the traveler is suspected of any wrongdoing.
Documents obtained by the ACLU in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for records related to the DHS policy reveal that more than 6,600 travelers, nearly half of whom are American citizens, were subjected to electronic device searches at the border between October 1, 2008 and June 2, 2010.
No law authorizes this power nor is there any judicial or congressional body overseeing or regulating what DHS is doing. And the citizens to whom this is done have no recourse - not even to have their property returned to them.

FBI Run Amok

The Electronic Frontier Foundation recently reviewed nearly 2,500 pages of documents released by the FBI as a result of the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The EFF revealed what I would call alarming trends in the Bureau’s intelligence investigation practices - FBI intelligence investigations have compromised the civil liberties of American citizens far more frequently, and to a greater extent, than previously assumed.
The FBI’s flagrant legal violations included submitting false or inaccurate declarations to courts, using improper evidence to obtain federal grand jury subpoenas and accessing password protected documents without a warrant. In at least one fifth of the cases, specific violations of the U.S. Constitution were cited.

Very Long Distance

Perhaps you recall the major uproar over President George W. Bush’s use of massive telephone and wire tap surveillance after the 9-11 terror.
Well, surprise, dear reader. With little notice, Obama’s Department of Justice now asserts that the FBI can obtain telephone your international call records without any formal legal process or court oversight.
The DoJ’s legal position is flawed and creates a potential loophole that could lead to a repeat of FBI abuses that should’ve stopped with a law that was passed in 2006.
The telephone record controversy is leftover from the Bush administration's war on terror. A hypocritical President Obama is continuing many of those same tactics, which he formerly said he opposed.
One year ago, the Inspector General's Office issued a lengthy report detailing that the FBI, for the years 2003-2005, had used "National Security Letters" (NSLs) to gather information on thousands of Americans in violation of the law. Under the PATRIOT Act, NSLs permit the FBI and other federal agencies to obtain all sorts of invasive information from telecoms, Internet and email providers - even health care providers - without any warrants or oversight of any kind.
And if you think this power is being aimed solely at suspected terrorists, think again. No wonder that some Swiss and other offshore banks refuse to discuss by telephone their accounts with Americans.

Freedom of Speech

The so-called Shield bill, introduced in response to the WikiLeaks disclosures, would amend the Espionage Act of 1917 to make it a crime for any person knowingly and willfully to disseminate classified information “concerning the human intelligence activities of the United States.”
This proposed law is constitutional as applied to government employees who unlawfully leak material to people who are unauthorized to receive it. But it violates the First Amendment to punish anyone who circulates the information after it has been leaked. At the very least, the act should be expressly limited to situations in which the spread of the classified information poses a clear and imminent danger to the nation.

A Plague on Both Houses

And by that I mean both political parties and both houses of the U.S. Congress - both of which seem to have lost their understanding of American history and an appreciation for the genius of our constitutional system.

Here goes our Internet

FCC Moves to Regulate Internet--Even Though the Law Calls for Internet to be 'Unfettered by Federal or State Regulation'

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted on Thursday to begin the formal process of bringing the Internet under greater federal control – a move sought by both President Barack Obama and FCC Chairnman Julius Genachowski--even though federal law calls for an Internet "unfettered by Federal or State regulation."

 This step comes after the federal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in April rebuked the FCC in its attempt to enforce a controversial regulatory doctrine called Net Neutrality, which would allow the government to prevent private Internet providers from deciding which applications to allow on their networks.
 The court said that the FCC did not have the authority to prevent Comcast, specifically, from blocking certain peer-to-peer Web sites.
 The FCC is now trying to reclassify the Internet to broaden its authority over the Web. Currently, the FCC only has “ancillary” authority, meaning it can regulate Internet access only in the process of regulating another service that it has direct authority over, such as television or cable.
 The 3-2 party-line vote on Thursday at the FCC began the formal process of reclassifying the Internet as a telecommunications service instead of an information service – its current classification. This is necessary because, as an information service, the government has little power to regulate Internet networks.
 As a telecommunications service, such as a telephone network, the Internet would fall under a much broader regulatory scope – giving the government the power to enforce universal service requirements, making them pay into a federal universal service fund used to provide communications services to poor areas.
 The FCC will now begin the mandatory public comment period, where it will solicit input from private companies and citizens about whether it should reclassify the Internet and, if so, how it should do it.
 The Commission has three options for going forward. First, it can decide not to reclassify the Internet at all, continuing to treat it as an information service. Second, the FCC can completely reclassify the Internet as a telecommunications service, granting the Commission broad powers over it. Third, it could seek a middle ground, reclassifying the Internet as a telecom service but exempting Internet providers from most of the regulations associated with other telecommunications services.
 This last approach, presented at the hearing as the “third way,” is the preferred avenue of Genachowski, who unveiled the plan in May.
 The “third way” approach would still allow the government the authority to heavily regulate the Internet because it would be classified as a telecom service. However, under this approach, the FCC claims it will exercise “forbearance,” a regulatory doctrine whereby the government promises not use its regulatory authority in most cases.
 Commissioner Michael Copps, at the FCC, sought to frame the issue in terms of consumer protection, claiming that “consumers find themselves in quite a box” because government, he claimed, had been “all but shorn” of the authority to regulate Internet service.
 Copps said he was “worried” about relying purely on the private sector for Internet-based innovation, saying that the problems of such an approach could be seen in the 2008 financial collapse and the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
 “We need to reclaim our authority,” Copps said.
FCC seal Robert McDowell, the commission’s longest-serving Republican member, said the commission should preserve the free Internet of today, adding that more Internet freedom would be in the public interest.
“An open and freedom-enhancing Internet is what we have today,” McDowell said.
 McDowell also said that reclassifying the Internet was “unnecessary” and that the FCC should wait for Congress to grant it explicit authority over the Web, saying, “We are not Congress.”
 In fact, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which gave the government no explicit authority to regulate Internet service, states: “It is the policy of the United States … to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet and other interactive computer services, unfettered by Federal or State regulation.”
  When asked whether the FCC’s plans violated this provision, Genachowski said that the “light touch” nature of his third way approach did not violate the Act’s explicit mandate to “preserve” a free and open market.
 “We need to have a [regulatory] framework for broadband access that is a light touch framework,” he said. “That is what we had before – and what everyone assumed was the case – before the Comcast decision. To me, a central purpose of this process is to determine what is a framework that is available to us that restores the status quo.”

Free Hi-Speed Internet for all..........

Well, once again it seems that the Obama club is taking another grab at redistribution of wealth at YOUR expense. In California we just got I.O.U.'s for our state tax returns and in the same mail, our bills for property tax! Do you think that if we paid the tax minus the money that they owe US and slipped the I.O.U. in there that , that would suffice? Not a chance, they would seize the house in a heartbeat! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? This democrap communist government that has nothing but disdain for the Constitution, let alone respect has gone too far! What say you? Read this! Here is some comments from other readers as well! You need to remember this come November folks!
(CNSNews.com) - Rich or poor, disabled or healthy, young or old – the Obama administration says every American should have access to high-speed Internet in their own homes, even if it costs American taxpayers billions of dollars to accomplish that goal.
 Universal broadband access is a key element of the Federal Communications Commissions' national broadband plan, which will be delivered to President Obama and the Congress on March 16.
 On Wednesday, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, an Obama appointee, frowned on recent price hikes by broadband providers, calling it an “ominous” sign at a time when the government hopes to give all Americans access to high-speed Internet in their homes.
“This is an issue we must examine closely going forward," Clyburn said in a statement posted on the FCC Web site. She noted that 36 percent of people who do not have Internet service at home cite cost as a main reason.
"Across-the-board price increases, especially on those who can least afford it, should raise a red flag for the Commission," Clyburn said. "When prices rise across the industry, and where there are only a limited number of players in the game, we have to ask ourselves whether there is any meaningful competition in the marketplace."
 Clyburn also objected to suggestions that broadband providers will roll out faster speeds only in the few markets where they have competition. If that happens, "our fears about whether meaningful competition exists should grow," she said. "If we fail to think deeply about these issues, consumers will suffer, and low-income Americans in particular will be left long behind.”
 According to the FCC, an estimated 93 million Americans currently do not have Internet service (broadband) at home. The Democrat-passed stimulus bill charged the FCC with developing a strategy to bring high-speed Internet to all Americans.
 Commissioner Clyburn said the national broadband plan will recommend the creation of a National Digital Literacy Corps to help people on the wrong side of the digital divide develop the skills they need to be comfortable on-line and to take full advantage of all it has to offer.
 In a speech on Tuesday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski called broadband a "major infrastructure challenge," just as roads, canals, railroads and telephones were for previous generations. "Broadband is a platform for opportunity and economic growth," he said.
 Among other things, Genachowski said the national broadband plan will "recommend the formation of an interagency working group to coordinate policies that promote broadband adoption by people with disabilities."
 Moreover, “Delivering on the promise of equal access to the broadband infrastructure will require ongoing commitment and resources from both the public and private sectors,” he said.
 Viewer CommentsThe following comments are posted by our readers and are not necessarily the opinions of either CNSNews.com or the story’s author. To be considered for publication, comments must adhere to the Terms of Use for posting to this Web site. Thank you.
Showing 1-10
call me roy (1 day ago)
 Just a couple of simple questions. We are broke, right? The states are closing schools as fast as the Administrators can get the approval from the Teachers Unions. So who is going to pay for this? The Communist Chinese are not going to loan us any more money. OK, we are all agreed on that. Secondly, the only way the government can get more money is either to raise taxes or help create more jobs, NOT government jobs, they don't count. Ok, we are all agreed on that. So, we need to create more private sector jobs. There is only one way to do that. The Communist Chinese send us hundreds of billions of dollars of contaminated junk and they don't buy anything from us. These globalist liars that tell you we have to have international trade are wrong. They will tell you that we have to have fair trade. We have never fair trade. If we don't fix this, our country will fail. It's only taken a decade of these failures to bring us here and now. We have all been lied to again and again.
jrobinson (2 days ago)
 The worst part is what comes next: when the government is your ISP; whatever you do online can become a federal crime. You think you'll be downloading music? Movies? Just wait! Today, if Sony catches you downloading a movie, they have to subpoena your ISP to get your name to file a civil suit in court. Now they'll just be able to call the police... who will come in your home and take all your hardware. But don't worry if you don't have govt broadband service... I'm sure the govt will claim it is all their business anyway because at some point it'll pass through their networks.
tuffone03 (2 days ago)
See the pretty trinket? It's freeeeee! Now just bend over...
ReadWryt (2 days ago)
 Uuuuuuh, did I miss something somewhere? Is there some Right to Internet inscribed in that invisible part of the Constitution that contains the "Penumbra" of something in there?? I mean, you could argue that this is covered under the Commerce Clause, I suppose. If they can tell a farmer that he can't feed the grain he grew on his property to his own cattle under the Agricultural Adjustments Act than I suppose it's possible to pretend that Internet Access is a right, like power and water, and therefor SHOULD then be handled by the PUC and not the FCC. I suppose next is Basic Cable in regions where the new and harder to receive Digital Television broadcasts are spotty...The Cable T.V. industry should be crapping themselves right now...
lel2007 (2 days ago)
 That part where obama's gang talks about industry cooperating to make internet available to everyone, I think that's more of 'spread the wealth'. No wonder broadband providers are raising rates, they know what's coming. And besides controlling communications, obama will have a solid grasp on Commerce.
lel2007 (2 days ago)
 More of obama's Social Justice I presume. So, we have, or soon will have, government controlled Banking & Finance, Industry (GM & Chry), National Health Care, National Energy Resources, Water Rights, and Communications Systems. I hope I wake up before this nightmare destroys the Constitution and America.
rkeyo (2 days ago)
 Hey, folks. This ain't simply gov't. largesse with your pesetas. With the Federal Police and NSA monitoring all Internet traffic, they must be having orgasms at the idea of EVERYONE online, sending personal emails they don't know AREN'T private. And can reverse webcams be too too far off? 1984 on steroids...
websmith (2 days ago)
 The only places that don't have broadband available are areas where it economically or physically impossible due to the structure of the atom. Broadband is available in 95% of the country at competitive and reasonable rates, but people are not buying it and the more people that the government puts out of work, the more service that is being canceled. Even before the government destroyed the economy, only 60% of the population was buying broadband in the areas that it is available. Telephone lines, including broadband, are owned by private companies. This is a blatant attempt by a socialist administration to issue mandates that can't possibly be met in order to give the government an excuse to take over the telecommunications industry. http://bit.ly/aqFvO
liberty76 (2 days ago)
 Oh yeah, now this is a "right" too. The g'ment will oversee it, then watch all content, then watch what you are doing on the broadband. Man-o-man, the fascists of the 20th century couldn't even dream about such control.
MrPete (2 days ago)
 If this goes forward, it will likely turn out similar to publicly funded mass transit: Mass transit doesn't pay for itself. Thus, the more people who use it, the more we must invest in the infrastructure...and the more money it loses. Similarly, if the gov't forces providers to allow everyone to have access at low cost without limitations (that's another rule they are trying to impose), then broadband also will be a money-loser. And will kill it for everyone. This administration simply does NOT understand economics. SOMEbody has to pay!

Anti-Virus [AVG] write up

I have been telling people about AVG for more years than I care to remember. The "free" version is fine for most people. I thought you should read Bob Rankins take on this. I hope everyone has the new version 9 by now! If you would like this program check out http://www.download.com/ and it is in the middle of the page, half way down. Remember to UNINSTALL your other anti-virus programs before installing AVG Here is what it does:
AVG 9 ReviewCategory: Anti-Virus

AVG Technologies has been protecting computer users against viruses, spyware, and other malware since 1991. Its eponymous software, simply called "AVG" comes in a free version for personal "basic protection" use and a commercial version for "enhanced protection" use. The latest release is version 9. Let's take a look at AVG9 and see how it measures up to the security challenges looming online...
Check out this week's most popular articles.
AVG9 Anti-Virus Software
 It's hard to believe that AVG has been around for 18 years. In that time, they've built a solid reputation by offering quality anti-virus and anti-spyware solutions, including one of the most popular free security tools, AVG Free Edition, which they claim has been downloaded by 80 million users.
 So what's new in AVG Version 9? For starters, it scans a hard drive for malware up to 50 per cent faster than previous versions. This is a major improvement because scanning a large drive can easily take over an hour. Other improvements include a more streamlined user interface, although looking "under the hood" to see what AVG is doing remains a geeky exercise that most users will skip. The thing just works and that's all most of us wish to know.
 Indpendent tests indicate that AVG 9 does report some "false positives" - warnings of threats when there really are none - in some well-known programs and occasionally in image files. All security software makes such mistakes, and it's better to err on the side of caution than to let a true threat get past.
 AVG's LinkScanner technology, included in the free version, detects and warns you of potential phishing Web sites before you actually fetch their pages into your Web browser. This can prevent the automatic downloading of malware to your computer, and help you steer clear of sites that collect personal information for unauthorized purposes. Some people have complained that the link scanner slows down their web surfing, so if you notice a lag when searching or loading pages, there's an option to turn this feature off.
 The free version of AVG also includes email scanning to protect you against dangerous links and executable attachments in your email messages. Of course, anti-virus and anti-spyware protection are also in the free edition. And all versions of AVG 9 include basic anti-rootkit protection as well.
 AVG9 has not yet been tested by AV Comparatives, but the previous versions have fared well in these independent test results. AVG 8.5 scored an "Advanced" rating in the most recent test, performed in August 2009.
 What's in AVG 9 Commercial Edition?
What you don't get in the free edition are firewall protection that keeps snoopers from "seeing" your computer on the Internet; the highest-grade anti-rootkit technology that keeps the sneakiest rootkits out; anti-spam for your email; system tools for scheduling virus scans and other AVG behavior; free technical support (although there is a "free users forum" on AVG's Web site); and "game mode", which protects your computer while you're playing online games. You won't get identity theft "insurance", either, which is provided by a third-party service.
 You can test-drive these extra features in a 30-day trial of the paid version of AVG 9. Then you can decide which paid version you wish to purchase. The AVG Anti-Virus program costs $34.99 and includes all the extra features except system tools and identity theft protection. The AVG Internet Security version costs $54.99 and includes everything.
 AVG is a trusted name in the Internet security industry. Its performance is much speedier and less intrusive than many commercial packages that cost a lot more.


Have a protected day online all,
Cheers Stiffroot

New Scam to be aware of!

Watch Out for This New Scam

By Cameron Huddleston, Contributing Editor,
http://www.kiplinger.com/

 If you get an e-mail claiming to be from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) telling you that your bank has failed and asking you to download a personal FDIC insurance file, it's a scam.
 According to a special alert from the FDIC, the subject line of the e-mail includes "check your Bank Deposit Insurance Coverage." The e-mail states: "You have received this message because you are a holder of a FDIC-insured bank account. Recently FDIC has officially named the bank you have opened your account with as a failed bank, thus, taking control of its assets."
 It also directs recipients to click on a link that supposedly goes to the FDIC site but really goes to a fraudulent site.
 The recession sparked several schemes to watch for, including mortgage-relief and job-search scams.

News and updates

Well good morning all,
 Today I want to bring to your attention the fact that many people that Email me and use AVG anti virus software are still using the 8.5 version. AVG has their new 9.0 out now and it is free so please go to http://www.download.com/ and on the first page scroll down and find AVG. You can download this on top of the 8.5 and it will update and delete old files.

 For the rest of you that are wasting money on Norton [Symantic], McAfee and others that slow down your computer, you might want to consider "uninstalling" them, which can be difficult and getting AVG instead. It is fast, not a resource hog, has an excellent Email scanner and uses the latest "heuristics" to find any type of malicious code anywhere on your computer. It also has,as you will see, an "optimization scan" when you first install it. I recommend you run that as it looks thru your computer for files that do not need to be scanned, makes a copy of them and only has to go thru the vulnerable files and folders. This makes for an even faster scan. If you need help, just email me and we can walk you thru it.

Have a great day all,
Cheers Stiffroot