Installing Java in Windows XP makes many unnecessary changes to the operating system. I cover how to un-do some of them to keep the system as clean as possible.

Portable Windows applications lend themselves to being backed up. Just one reason of prefer them over normally installed applications.

Software company Malwarebytes has accused IObit of stealing their intellectual property, in the form of the Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware database. And, they offer proof.

It seems the only way to learn the number of platters inside a hard drive is to ask the company.

Defensively buying a hard drive means taking into consideration the number of platters -- the fewer the better. But, you have to sleuth around in the specs to find the drives with the fewest platters.

The new Security Essentials antivirus product from Microsoft has gotten a lot of first looks. Here I take a more detailed look at one aspect of it, defending the hosts file.

The browser takes it upon itself to disable a vulnerable Microsoft plug-in.

At SERVERSNIFF.net you can verify whether your email account was on any of the recent lists of hacked accounts.

How do you know if bad guys have piggy-backed onto your wireless network?

Online banking just got much more dangerous with the latest crimeware. Automated alerts are a great safety measure, but there's a Catch-22 for Chase customers.

The Wall Street had a story yesterday on virtual desktops that was missing a techie perspective. Many of the downsides were not addressed.

The malware threat to Windows computers continues to get worse. But, there seems to be a consensus forming about the best way to deal with it.

The checkbox governing the use of third party cookies by Firefox has been hidden, but it's still there.

Yahoo email users beware, bad guys can keep guessing your password forever. And they can guess your email address too, resulting in more spam.

In addition to portable versions of Firefox and Chrome, there is also a portable version of Opera. Portable applications are highly recommended for defensive computing.

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