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Internet Marketing and Web Design News - Florida & Beyond

Wednesday, January 11, 2006 2:41 PM

How Many Emails Does Microsoft Get A Day?

According to Ron Markezich, the software maker's CIO of Microsoft:

"We get a lot of spam. We get 10 million e-mails a day coming into Microsoft. We delete more than 9 million of those as spam. Spyware, malware--you continue to have to scan the network and protect against it. Our users are the admins of their machines. They can load whatever software they want on their machines, but we do audit the network continuously. I am continuously scanning the 300,000 machines on my network and assuring that they adhere to the security policy. If they don't, we address that remotely or we disconnect them from the network."

And you thought you had email problems...

Tuesday, January 10, 2006 4:19 PM

A free collection of essential software from Google - What's Worth Keeping?

If you haven't noticed, Google has been coming up with more and more development solutions. So much so, that professional SEO's can't keep up. It's a good thing that they are now bundling these items plus other "essentials" that Google recommends.

Here's what they say:

Google Pack is:
Essential: Enjoy safe, useful software for your computer
Simple: Download and install everything in just a few clicks
Customizable: Choose only the software you want
Up to date: Get updates and new software via Google Updater

Cool, but what's the software you get & is it any good?

Software Included:

Google Earth - 3D Earth browser
Zoom from space to street level — tour the world
Good? Still a bit more of a novelty item, it's a good way to learn our Geography. For businesses, it's good for location systems & businesses wishing to let others know their location - especially if they're new or being built.

Picasa - Photo organizer
Find, edit, and share your photos in seconds
Good? For photo orgainization and it being free - YES! Most won't need advanced features like specific meta data for photographs, so try this one out.

Google Pack Screensaver - Photo screensaver
Enjoy photos from your personal collection
Good? Not really needed. There are tons of screensavers out there. Personally, I don't use them (except the standard windows ones) because they tend to slow my productivity down & sometimes crash my system.

Google Desktop - Desktop companion
Find all your email, files, web history, and more
Get all your personalized info in one place with Sidebar
Good? You betcha. If you ever had a problem with finding files or info from email, this is the product for you. I use it everyday. Keep in mind that the next Microsoft Windows OS (MS Vista) will include a feature similar to this.

Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer - Search toolbar
Search from any web page and autofill forms
Block annoying pop-ups
Good? Oh yea. Makes searching a breeze and has a great pop-up blocker. However, if you like other search engines better, download their Toolbar instead.

Additional Software:

Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar - Web browser
Mozilla Corporation
Browse the web quickly and securely
Switch between pages quickly with tabbed browsing
Good? If you don't like Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, give FireFox a try. Otherwise, it's just not worth it right now. Especially since there are some compatability issues.

Norton Antivirus 2005 Special Edition - Antivirus utility
Symantec
Protect your PC from viruses, worms and Trojan horses
Includes 6-month subscription to protection updates
Good? Great if you don't have an antivirus program. It's the longest free offer that I've seen for Norton.

Ad-Aware SE Personal - Antispyware utility
Lavasoft
Safely detect and remove spyware
Protect your privacy with powerful features
Good? Get this one! Even if you don't think that you have spyware, get it anyways. I've been using it for years & it does wonders to help clean my computer.

Adobe Reader 7 - PDF reader
Adobe Systems
View, print, and search PDF files
Launches up to 50% faster than Reader 6.0
Good? If you have Acrobat Reader, you really don't need it. But if you don't get this. It's the standard for documents passed via the web.

Optional Software

Google Talk - Voice and IM application
Call or send instant messages to your friends for free
Get a free account using your mobile phone
Good? Although I haven't used it, give it a try if you want to contact people for free via your computer.

GalleryPlayer HD Images - Images
GalleryPlayer
High-quality artwork and photos
Perfect for your screensaver or desktop
Good? I would personally just use Picasa & the standard windows screen savers. But, if you're curious, try it out.

RealPlayer - Media player
RealNetworks
Play popular media formats, organize music and videos
Transfer music to iPod and other portable media players
Good? Not really. With powerful programs that dominate the industry like Windows Media Player, ITunes (for the IPod functionality), and WinAmp, RealPlayer has slipped & not worth the download.

Trillian - Instant messenger
Cerulean Studios
Chat with friends on AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo!
Supports audio chat and secure connections
Good? If you use instant messaging & have multiple accounts like I do (I'm a web developer), then this program is a must. I've been using it for over 3 years now and it has continued to perform wonderfully.