New Google Earth requires you to allow automatic updates

Google Earth ^ | 03/06/09 | Self

[brityank]

It asked for cell #, just have a regular phone, so I entered that number which was really stupid.

I've run into something similar - so I gave them the local Dial-A-Prayer; I got in, and they got saved!!       ;^)

[Dallas59]

Got rid of it. Keeping it from starting in msconfig does nothing. You have to uninstall it.

[Star Traveler]

On my Macintosh, I have all programs have to get an “okay” from me, before they “reach out” on the Internet. Some I have pre-approved for certain IP numbers and for certain ports and others, there is no approval, but it comes up and asks me at the time (and I can either okay or cancel it there).

So, you could do something like that. I’m sure y’all got something like that on the Windows platform (if you’ve got Windows, that is)....

[Richard Kimball]

WINDOWS! WINDOWS! I have been accused of many things, sir, but running Windows is NOT one of them. 24” iMac.

[PAR35]

Set up your firewall to keep the updater from calling home.

[Eva]

I use the freeway and a cross street, but my husband uses his work address. Let them send all the junk mail they want. It won’t get past a trash can.

[driftdiver]

Because if he does that the program will probably lock up. Better to remove it entirely.

[CedarDave]

For your Tech ping list.

[Star Traveler]

LOL... Ahhh..., good, then. That’s a really nice computer to have.

Okay, get “Little Snitch. Run that and all your connections will need to be okayed by you, or you can set rules to pre-approved certain ones and not others. It will operate on the “processes” that you see in Activity Monitor window.

Little Snitch
http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html

I also use IPNetMonitor, and keep a window open over on the side that shows any network activity. If I see something going on (and I don’t think there is supposed to be any), then I can check both Little Snitch (which shows the live connections at the time) and also “Activity Monitor” (a program included by Apple, already there).

IPNetMonitor
http://www.sustworks.com/site/prod_ipmonitor.html

This one will do all sorts of TCP/IP checks and test. You can do a dump of all your connections going on at the time and see exactly what each one is doing (if you want).

Also, I use “The DoorStop X Security Suite”
http://www.opendoor.com/doorstopsuite/

This will enhance the built-in firewall on OS X and give you additional tools. The enhanced logging capabilities are well worth it. You can also check the logs on the system for any accesses that were not supposed to be done.

Those logs are available in the “Console” program (included by Apple). You can check the “console.log” and the “system.log” files (they’re available on the left side panel of the program).

With all that, you should know what’s going on with your system, in “real-time” and also, see if anyone has accessed your computer while you weren’t looking.

Another little clue as to what activity has been going on with your computer since the last time you used it, you can use a program to check the last time files were “accessed” on your computer. Now, the operating system itself will access many things as it operates in the background, but it won’t access your own personal files; it only accesses its own stuff that it has to do in order to operate. If you check the last accesses (let’s say) in the last six hours or so, that will tell you if anyone has accessed anything on your computer while you were gone. You can see exactly where someone went, by looking at the “accesses” of the files...

I use “File Buddy” for this operation...
http://www.skytag.com/filebuddy/

I’ve had that one forever, it seems (along with these other programs, above, too. With File Buddy, you can search and access all sorts of things on your computer that you would never know was there.

I might mention one other program, too. If you want to see where programs are installing things (little file fragments here and there) and remove everything when you get rid of the program, you can use the program CleanApp

CleanApp webpage
http://synium.de/products/cleanapp/index.html

And also, although there is not much of a problem with viruses and other malware, I do have...

VirusBarrier X5 from Intego
http://www.intego.com/virusbarrier/

—

Check out all those, and if you do all of them, you’ll have your computer locked down pretty solid, for anyone or anything getting in and messing up stuff.

Of course, there are other utilities, too, for checking the health of your system and doing certain maintenance and stuff, but I’m not mentioning those. I’m pretty much talking about the security of the machine here...

[ P.S. — did you ever find that one-armed guy? :-) ... ]

[Star Traveler]

You said, to another FReeper — “For your Tech ping list.”

Make that for your *Macintosh* tech list... now... :-)

[Star Traveler]

You said — “Oh yea, in a map quest or anything like that i’ll never give my full address, I’ll give it a few numbers up. Your just asking for junk mail.”

So, if you’ve got a few people mad at you, all they’ve gotta do is keep entering your street address into MapQuest... Quite a trick, I would say!

LOL...

[Star Traveler]

You said — “Set up your firewall to keep the updater from calling home.”

A good firewall enhancer for the Mac OS X is ...

“The DoorStop X Security Suite”
http://www.opendoor.com/doorstopsuite/

—

Also, I would get ...

Little Snitch
http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html

Both are excellent...

[Star Traveler]

You were saying (in part... ) — “... in areas with Streetviews...”

I was out walking around the block with the dogs last year and got passed by the “Google car” with the funny thing sticking up from it ... And now I find myself on Street Views... (with the dogs, too)... LOL...

[shaft29]

Your links. Are they only for Macs?

[Star Traveler]

You asked — “Your links. Are they only for Macs?”

Yeah, they all run on the Mac OS X operating system. Usually requiring version 10.4 and up...

—

But, the “concepts” are just as valid on other platforms. I’m sure that the software to do each of those tasks are available for other operating systems. It’s just a matter of finding the best one (of several) to do that particular task (as I listed up above). You can find that out, with dedicated research and asking questions on other forums (for computers...).

[shaft29]

Thanks Star Traveler.

One other question. I am starting to hate windows.

In the next few months I am going to buy my first laptop. Can you recommend a good Apple product.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Google Updater is a Service rather than a TSR program. It can be disabled via the Services management area of Winders. I disabled it after finding it in a routine scan of services that startup at boot with Ace Utilities.

I recommend looking at not only startup in msconfig after an install of ANYTHING, but also a scan of services that get set to startup. You'd be surprised what gets put there. Adobe and Apple products are the biggest offenders.

[Star Traveler]

[ Ping to Swordmaker for any suggestions... ]

—

You were asking — “In the next few months I am going to buy my first laptop. Can you recommend a good Apple product.”

For a laptop, you’ve basically got two categories — one is the normal model of laptop (might call it the consumer model) and then you’ve got the pro model.

Now, there are variations within each of those two groups (1) MacBook and (2) MacBook Pro — but they vary around very small things, like RAM or hard drive space and/or speed and then maybe a thing or two after that.

If you go to the Apple Retail Store and get your “hands on” it, then you’ll get a good idea of how they’re configured and their size.

Of course, the cheaper model is the MacBook while the MacBook Pro is the more expensive one. But, you’ve got all the software you need with them (I mean most normal software that people will want to use normally — not that specialized and security software and stuff like that).

Now, I’ve got the version of the laptop before the MacBook and it’s the consumer model (the lower end one). This time around for me, I’m going for the top end of laptop (which is quite a bit more expensive), but it’s got a lot more capability and some additional things on it (like the firewire port, for one thing — that I want for bootable hard drives that are external to the computer). You may not need that. The lower end model of MacBook doesn’t have firewire and while I want it, many others don’t care.

Anyway, you can go to the Apple Store, online, too — and get your basic prices. You really won’t find any dramatic sales on these computers (maybe $5 or $10 off here and there, but that’s about it). The most you may get “on sale” would be some additional equipment for free, while the basic computer itself will be the same as Apple’s price.

You may want to buy from the Apple Retail Store (not the online one, but the brick and mortar one), because they do have good service there. On the other hand, if you know of another reseller or retailer that has an absolutely good reputation and will stand behind their sales, then you might consider another place, other than the Apple retail store.

And, by the way, I wouldn’t bother with the “MacBook Air” model..., it’s not powerful enough and too small and has too many other problems (at least in my way of thinking).

—

The MacBook model —
http://www.apple.com/macbook/

MacBook in the online store
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook

—

The MacBook Pro model
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/

MacBook Pro in the online store
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro/

—

As a P.S. here, you do know that you can boot the whole machine into a mode where it runs Windows only, right? LOL... (I don’t do that...). OR..., you can boot on the normal operating system (Mac OS X 10.5) and you can then get another special program to actually “boot” Windows “inside” the running operating system. And you can run Windows programs as if they are running on the normal Mac operating system (you can barely tell what is running on what). The Windows operating system is actually running inside the Mac OS X and will run all your Windows program within that Windows operating system. Quite cool, I would say. It will cost you more money to do it that way, since Microsoft is not going to “give you” their operating system to do that... LOL... But, it’s an option if you ever wanted to do that (not that you have to, mind you...).

[frankenMonkey]

Thanks for all of that info, it’s great.
I don’t use any of those programs, but will check them out today.

I currently have a 24” iMac, top of the line with the Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs. I’ve also had the full-boat Mac Pro laptop. My recommendation for anyone buying a Mac is to get it as loaded up as much as you can afford, CPU, RAM, storage, display. The incremental costs to move up are well worth it.

[shaft29]

Thank you so much.