Slashdot Mirror

We already get internet by satellite from a dozen companies.

Here are the top ten.
http://www.toptenreviews.com/s...

My father runs an accounting business. His tax software is only available on Windows, and not as a service.

If he's stuck with some software then is he taking precautions for his business? Off-site backups, duplicate records, printed copies of contracts, licenses, etc?

Today's computer technology isn't like 1985. We have virtualization in the 21st century. And not just things like Playstation or Nintendo emulators. With risks like malware you need to be able to wipe your environment and re-create it if some asshat tries to lock up your business at gunpoint.

You can take that Windows instance, virtualize it, run as a VM on your Linux desktop.

Why?

Then you can backup the VM. Snapshot the VM. Migrate it to a cloud provider. You can even wrap a horribly unpatched OS instance that software could require behind a carefully tuned server firewall on a VM host.

Move the VM from hardware to hardware with guarantee this sh*tware accounting package will run exactly the same as before.

Infrequently used software? Put it in a VM and only run that fake machine when you need it. VMs boot in a lot less time than physical hardware.

As for cost, with Linux this is for free in terms of additional license cost over the cost of the original Windows license. VM software on most Linux Desktops is a click away. With tools like clonezilla or paid for disk imagers, the virtualization process is less time-intensive than setup of a regular backup solution. (A backup solution a business may be legally required depending on the market.)

there's a lot of proprietary software that many companies use that is only available on Windows. Most of it has no serious competition on Linux.

Not being beholden to someone else is a reason to run your own business. Otherwise you might as well be working for someone else.

Captive markets are the best. For profit and for control. Tax packages are some of the worst, with their required frequent re-purchase to keep up to date with the laws. Office software with horribly complicated and incompatible formats are close behind. Gamers are tied to whatever their games run on but as I mentioned with emulators they will switch when options are available. But gamers are consumers, but business people.

This is different from using the best platform for the best purpose. This is where someone else has made that choice for you.

People like the poor guy running a these tax packages not "running" an account business. He is actually just re-seller of that tax software who pays for that privilege. If he cannot do so for cheap enough then he won't be able to "run" his own business. If the tax software company makes it easy enough for the end-users then his business goes away, too.

Unlike a carpenter who can use whatever wood is best, this account uses what the tax company offers, possibly only in the way that they offer, on the tools that they require. The tax company can even pay the government* to mandate he does so only in their way.

This lack of freedom is what certain people were complaining about decades ago. It may look like he is his own man on the surface. But in reality the modern proprietary software world makes a sharecropper out of him. He turns his customer's money into profits for the tax software company and some spreadsheet company and some photo editing company. He has no choice in the matter.

Enterprise-level (read BIG companies) don't have these problems. If they don't want to run software XYZ on platform ABC they can pay to build what they want on their own schedule. That's often how software like AWS come into existence. But small shops and SAP "customers" don't get freedom like this.

Complaints about Windows-only software isn't really about GNU/Linux. It has been about free

You forgot fresh popcorn more than you can ever eat using http://www.toptenreviews.com/h... and of course the microwave is really good for one thing specifically, lots of melty butter, actual real live butter to pour over the popcorn. Tips, fill one container with freshly popped pop corn and then decant to plastic tub with, lid, pour over melted butter, put on lid and shake (microwave can get a little bit fussy about too small a volume to heat, so either use lots and lots of butter or add a glass with some water alongside the glass with butter).

The part you are missing is "monopoly". Apple doesn't have a monopoly in computers, phones or tablets...

Keep in mind, it depends on what the FTC decides what the "market" is.

For example, Microsoft maintained that they did not have a monopoly in personal computer operating systems because of Apple. However, the FTC ruled that they did have a monopoly in operating systems for Intel-based computers. Since Apple, at the time, used PowerPC processors, Microsoft couldn't use Apple's market share to claim they didn't have a monopoly.

While Apple does not have a monopoly in computers, phones, or tablets, it might be more difficult to maintain that Apple does not have a monopoly in the sale of music.

You're welcome to take that up with the reviewers listing them in the top 10. I personally don't care, I was just answering the guy's question about how they make money.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/...
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/tes...
http://www.av-test.org/en/anti...
http://anti-virus-software-rev...

What decade are you from, out of curiosity?

I span many decades, though I wonder if you're from the future, seeing as how you present figures that are around double that of current mainstream stuff.

Currently, we're pushing ~40% in top end photovoltaics ~35% in midrange/prosumer, lowly consumer stuff bought off Alibaba easily reaches 25%

Let's see:
2014 review says 15% for consumer grade panels.
44.7% is the world record. However, these cells are disallowed because they're all concentrator types - they're designed for use with mirrors and such to feed them 100X+ concentrated sunlight.
21.5% is the world record for consumer grade panels.

After that we had to adjust because they'd be non-optimally placed(flat vs angled, under shade, etc...), where the light has to penetrate through thick and fairly dirty glass*, etc...

blue is far more efficient than red in terms of input power/output

Huh, looks like red LEDs are still more efficient than blue. The reason we use blue LEDs(well, ultraviolet ones), is that you can change blue to red(and the other colors) with a simple phosphor, but not vice versa.

Oh, and Monochromatic efficiencies are more in the 1/3rd range, not 70%. You also have to account for the power conditioning electronics to buffer output between the solar panels(or nighttime power transmission) and the LEDs. They can be highly efficient as well(90%+), but it's still there.

Your math is about 40 years behind.

I'll give you 1. Which was when we examined the issue.

*They found that their 'traction surface' dropped power production by about 15% compared to the bare panel. That would drop a 21.5% efficient panel to 18.3%.

Top 10 Notation Software Reviewed
As you can see from the reviews Sibelius scores the best and runs on Windows 7,XP, Vista and Mac. If you want to go ahead and write your own open source software then I'm sure us slashdotters would be happy with that. However, if you don't have the time to do that then Sibelius is probably the go.

Fees:

One-time Walmart fee: $3
Montly fee: $2
ATM withdrawal: $2 plus ATM fees
International ATM withdrawal: $2 plus ATM fees
ATM balance inquiry: $1
Replacement card: $3
Second card: $3
Foreign purchases: Two percent of total purchase amount in U.S. dollars

On top of all that, if the card is stolen or hacked, I lose whatever is spent off the card. If my credit card number is stolen, I am not responsible for charges.

Debit cards are for suckers.

Sometimes it pays to do a little research. Personally, I have no use for 40 watt equivalents. 60 is barely adequate.

http://led-light-bulbs-review.toptenreviews.com/
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/512346/how-to-choose-an-led-light-bulb/

Pulled them out of wiki, and Forbes agrees, as do various review sites.

No consumer PV installations advertise 32% efficiency.

For the future, consider inventorying, photographing, and valuating as many possessions -- no matter how seemingly negligible. Then ensure that your insurance policy actually covers the cost of replacing as much as possible at full retail value.

There are apps, applications, and web apps which enable you to realistically valuate your possessions, to ensure that your insurance company is giving you a fair amount for theft.

Microsoft OS is not important, they don't provide any infrastructure at all.
Servers running Linux and other Unix-like OSes are much more important.
Most of the PCs you see in offices just run a browser to access a centralized application. When HTML5 will be made the standard, this situation will become more and more widespread.
Microsoft Internet Explorer is not important any more. But it should be just a browser, not a piece of software tightly bolted into the OS.
And when you buy a brand new PC you have to pay also for Windows in almost all the world. whether you like it or not.
Shops could have PCs without any OS on the shelves. It's be up to the customer to ask for an OS of they choice and later on to choose the browser they like.

NO, you are definitely wrong. Microsoft is not important. Freedom is.

Wait wait wait.

Your argument is that there are less than 1 million porn sites, and you cite an article that examines ONLY one million sites. Do I even need to point out the flaw in that reasoning?

Still, let's suppose that your 42,000/1,000,000 figure is true. There are somewhere between 300,000,000 and 6,800,000,000 websites, total, which (using naive extrapolation) gives between 13,000,000 and 290,000,000 pornographic websites. And I for one would bet that porn tends more to the "many sites with low traffic" style than average.

In any case, this source lists 4.2 million sites, and this study lists 260 million porn pages online as of 2003 - do your own estimates for average pages per site and extrapolate towards today if you wish.

Part of the proliferation is just how the business works. They tend to buy up many domains, one for each "series" almost, and combine them into one "package". They commonly refer to this as "affiliate" sites. So that inflates things a bit. Then there's the rather large number of free sites that just rehost content. Then all the camwhore sites. And some "dating" sites are classed as pornography for obvious reasons.

tl;dr there's a TON of porn out there

Internet Browser Software Review 2012 - TopTenREVIEWS
http://internet-browser-review.toptenreviews.com/
Ease of Use – The best internet browsers are those that strike a seamless balance
between features and ease of use. While features on a web browser are ...
- Firefox - Google Chrome - Maxthon - Opera

Mozilla Firefox Web Browser — Free Download — mozilla.org
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
Official site of the open-source browser. Includes product downloads, release notes,
features overview, and information about switching from other browsers.

Google Chrome - Get a fast new browser. For PC, Mac, and Linux
https://www.google.com/chrome
Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology
to make the web faster, safer, and easier.
18,158 people +1'd this

At the bottom of the page for a targeted ad box:

Ads related to best web browser

Download Google Chrome
https://www.google.com/chrome
A free browser that lets you do more of what you like on the web
180 people +1'd this page
- Features - Apps - Install Google Chrome

Download Top Web Browser
http://www.beautyoftheweb.com/
See What Makes Internet Explorer® 9 Stand out. View Features & More!
- Privacy Protection - Free Download - Why Internet Explorer 9

On the other hand, if you search "what is the best web browser" (without the quotes!) like the person you're replying to did, you get slightly different results. I see, in order a comparison from some site I've never heard of with Google Chrome as #1, a LifeHacker page (Chrome again), a random Yahoo! Answers link ("Google Chrome is, for Windows users, the fastest web browser."), a review with 4 equal "best browsers" including Chrome, a PC Mag review (spoiler: Chrome wins!), a really annoying YouTube video where Firefox comes first, "Review: Best Web browser? Google's Chrome outshines pack", a review where Firefox wins, and finally one that doesn't answer the question at all.

If you have a Ritz or Wolf Camera nearby, I find that their prints are high quality. I used to take my film to them for processing and still use them for digital prints. They are more expensive than most, but if you print in bulk (100+) the price drops to be comparable to the other services. I share most of my photos online now, so I only print when I am updating my photo books, maybe once or twice a year. I have never had any of their prints fade and they have always reprinted bad prints, no questions asked.

One thing to keep in mind is the equipment that the photo shop uses. If they use Kodak equipment, your photos will turn out on the warmer side (oranges and reds have a little more contrast) whereas Fujifilm equipment tends to be on the cooler side (blues and greens have more contrast). My local Ritz uses Kodak equipment and produces warmer photos, which I prefer.

I've tried the local Walmart and Pharmacies, but the quality just isn't there. I just joined Costco, so I haven't had a chance to try their services.

You can find a roundup of photo services here: http://digital-photo-printing-review.toptenreviews.com/

AppleScript.THT, uses a flaw in Apple's remote desktop implementation. There was next to no network security at the company when I started in 2010; at the end of 2010, after the infections, I took over security. We don't have these issues, now.

There are several known Mac viruses out there, you can read about them here. Also, because OSX users don't typically run antivirus software and those who do typically don't run a realtime scanner with decent heuristics, it is possible (read: probable) that there are more OSX virii out there that we don't know about than there are that we do.

Then you would use this: http://fingerprint-usb-review.toptenreviews.com/kanguru-bio-aes-review.html

or rather one that worked on more systems than windows. I know there's one out there but I can't find it anymore.

Uh huh, not according to this:

Top ten browsers

And isn't there some privacy-enhanced version of chrome out there, that doesn't spy on you constantly?

Wouldn't it be simple to put out an update on your average home router with a list of porn sites that parents can switch on and off

No. There are perhaps somewhere in the region of 4 million porn sites out there (source, possibly biased, but probably somewhere in the right ballpark). Assuming an average site age of 5 years (which is probably way too high), that's about 2,000 new sites per day to maintain that level. You'd need to update the list very frequently to keep it up to date, and even then, who's going to compile it?

Also: a typical home router has between 16MB and 64MB of flash for its firmware. To block those 4 million porn sites without collaterally blocking other sites hosted on the same servers, you'll need to encode exact addresses, at probably around 20 bytes or so each (once compressed), so you simply can't fit that list into the memory of existing home routers. I mean, this is one of the best you can get, and only comes with 24MB of flash by default. You can expand it to 56MB if you need it, but even that wouldn't be enough.

Facebook:
http://opensource.appleseedproject.org/
http://www.joindiaspora.com/
http://www.myspace.com/

Amazon:
http://www.bookfinder.com/about/booksellers/

Skype:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_VoIP_software

Twitter:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumblr
http://www.plurk.com/

Apple:
http://www.microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx
http://www.ubuntu.com/

eBay:
http://online-auction-sites.toptenreviews.com/

Google:
http://www.thesearchenginelist.com/

"So where is the (completely legal under US law) software that the Library of Congress can use to back up Blu-Rays that have been released recently? Or, indeed, legal (Under US law) software that they can use to back up DVDs?"

http://www.opencloner.com/

http://dvd-copy-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

http://www.blue-cloner.com/

http://www.blu-ray-soft.com/blu-ray_copy/

Or Indeed

http://www.google.com/#q=dvd+copy About 85,300,000 results (0.22 seconds)
http://www.google.com/#q=bluray+copy About 3,990,000 results (0.24 seconds)

As soon as I download them via POP3 into Thunderbird. But then, I'm paranoid regarding my data and don't wish to leave it on hardware that I don't own and control.

I on the other hand view anyone who really wants to view my entire email history as completely demented and think they deserve to read the decades worth of drivel that I have accumulated as punishment for being nosy.

To be honest though, I know my bank accumulate all the data of everything I have ever bought. I know there are various secretive credit reference agencies that store all sorts of data about me. I can only ask them to send me a copy, I cannot legally stop them unless they hold inaccurate information . I know there also know there are more shady companies the illegally hold data about my political affiliations and allow potential employers to search it.

I know that there are millions of other ways big companies snoop on my life and I have given up worrying about it. It is unfortunate but we have to realise we have almost no privacy left in this digital age. We can try and minimise our exposure, but I have long since just decided I am happy for people to know most things about me.

My real name is VERY similar to my slashdot ID so anyone who knew me would instantly realise who I am from this or any other post.

Here are a few interesting links:

http://www.peoplecheck.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Background_check
http://background-check-services-review.toptenreviews.com/

This company has been closed down last year but I bet there are others:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/may/27/construction-worker-blacklist-database1

I can't find any Toshiba that only comes with a 90 day warranty. The cheapest laptops I can find on Toshiba's website come with at least a 1 year warrenty.

Moreover, Toshiba has one of the smallest malfunction rates of their laptops. Link here.

The application developers would maybe like to use Flash (or maybe not) but are hindered by insane licensing fees.

There are no licensing fees for using Flash. There are completely free, some even open-source, tools available for producing Flash content.

Adobe really tried to get people to develop whole applications in Flash, but I could never see a compelling reason to do this. HTML works well enough for most things (even more with HTML5), anything more demanding is maybe not a good candidate for implementing as a web-based application.

I think one of the big reasons for Flash's popularity is that you can build complex things in it far more easily than with HTML. So, while you could theoretically hand-code some animation in HTML5+canvas, it's far faster to do it graphically in Flash -- which is why Flash still dominates web animation (and gaming). And while you can build interactive apps like GMail using JavaScript, it's prohibitively expensive for most medium or small companies to do so -- which is why static, full-page-refresh sites still dominate the web. (And it's also why GMail's level of interactivity still doesn't hold a candle to the richness of Flash sites built by larger companies).

p.s. -- there was at least one Flash email client, Goowy. Like many startups, it got acquired and killed. But there still are other Flash-based communication/social apps out there, such as TweetDeck.

This is in a big part triggered by our increased dependence on search engine, instead of common sense and stricter ICANN regulations, that would educate us to go to something like bitdefender.com or mcafee.com
Quick case study: let's type "best antivirus software" in Google, Bing and Yahoo. First links, for all three, are not antivirus vendors but shady "review" sites like toptenreviews.com. Immediately on entry, toptenreviews tried to sell me their own "security configurator" thing. Also, all "buy now" links for the listed antiviruses go to interesting domain names like jdoqocy.com and kqzyfj.com.
Check http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ for yourself, or any other similar site.

We use Kaspersky for Windows systems at work (and ClamAV on Linux for mail, though that might change to Kaspersky as I believe we have a license for it). When employees ask if they can use our licenses for their personal machines, I point them at Avira AntiVir because it's about as good and it's FREE FOR PERSONAL USE (although the free version has less spyware detection). It blows AVG out of the water.

Here are some useful links from my research, which included the above site:

• Wikipedia:Antivirus software's external links are very useful.
• Top 9 Windows Antivirus, a review at About.com, ranking Avira, Kaspersky, BitDefender, and McAfee as #1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively.
• Virus.gr measured detection rates of tweaked settings, ranking in order: G DATA, F-Secure, TrustPort, then Kaspersky.
• AntiVirus Software Review 2009 - TopTenREVIEWS, ranking in order: BitDefender, Kaspersky, ESET, then AVG.
• Virus Bulletin's latest test results (no direct ranking).

From the Wikipedia links and other research that I didn't bother to note to my colleagues (who were also doing this research), I determined that Kaspersky's software was among the most efficient and CPU-friendly. It's only downside was a less-than-optimal user interface, especially on the administrative side for the corporate product. We didn't mind its UI flaws in the free trial period, so we purchased it. We're still happy with it several months later.

The main arguments for our switching from Trend Micro were that it was slow, had poor performance, missed several viruses, we wanted to boycott it, and we were tied to a very old version (since it out-performs the newer ones in reviews). Arguments for switching to Kaspersky included: it doesn't feel bloated (remember when that was the norm?), great performance, well received across the board in reviews, dirt cheap (new licenses are 70% the current renewal cost of Trend Micro, which is an ever-growing target), we liked the UI that prevented reviewers from giving it a perfect score, and it's the de-facto number one scanner in Russia and surrounding area (you know, where all the viruses come from?). Kaspersky is also growing rapidly in deployments; you can now get computers installed with it.

There are many sources for getting detailed information on anti-virus software. Sites like www.toptenreviews.com and www.starreviews.com have both expert and consumer written reviews and rankings.

Right now, eBay is the auction place. Sellers want to sell on eBay because that's where all the buyers are. Buyers want to buy on eBay because that's where all the sellers are.

At some point, both buyers and sellers could get sufficiently upset with eBay as to take their business elsewhere. Are we there yet?

And if we are, what is the most likely competitor?

http://online-auction-sites.toptenreviews.com/

One more thought: if the current situation is close to the tipping point, then all it would take is one single disturbance to cause a mass exodus from eBay to the new site. For example, if Google were to buy one of eBay's top competitors, and publicly announce Google Auctions, and announce that they would charge less in fees and allow checks and postal money orders... eBay could lose everything in the blink of an eye.

Remember how fast Xfree86 was dumped in favor of X.org? Dissatisfaction with the Xfree86 project was already high, and then they announced one more petty annoying license change, and *boom*, they were done. I wonder if this could happen with eBay.

http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3338031

steveha

There are lots of auction services out there - Reviews from 2008 of reasonable eBay competition

How cute! An input system that makes texting take 10 times as long as using the keypad. Fantastic! I'm sure it works perfectly for Doom RGP and other popular mobile games. Oh and no other mobile phone as decent power and 3D capabilities, the iPhone is way ahead of the competition there.

Then there is the little fact that there are already hundreds of ISV:s developing mobile games using the J2ME platform so that they can easily be ported between different phone models. But they are ofcourse going to give up (relatively) easy portability in favor of designing games for the Apple iPhone uberdevice exclusively.

A list here
Some Required Reading
The Wiki Entry with everything

Now Those are just some places to start, however:
if you look here you'll get an idea
Finding a good vendor independent list that does not use adjectives, you know something with metrics on how many viri in the database, how fast does is scan files? How much Memory does it take up? all of these are becoming more and more difficult to find. AV software is supposed to do one thing, scan files, match them to heuristics and if they match the sig, move it to a sandbox or blow it away. Security is an evolving battlefield, polymorphisms brought way to new methods of infection and a few worms bounced about, then heuristics got better, now they rely on stupidity of which there will always be an ample supply.

It was also on the Super Nintendo

It seems like there will be a lot of people wanting to opt out, considering that Australia's per-capital porn revenue is twice that of the US. Or, if the option to opt out is difficult, it will be interesting (and disappointing) to see if the reduction in rape caused by Internet porn is reversed.

Lies beget lies.

I engaged an unnamed "pro-family" organisation in an email discussion on their pornography statistics, that 12-17s were the largest consumers of Internet pornography. When pressed for the source, they cited "Internet Filter Review".

The cached version of this page http://web.archive.org/web/20070103225905/http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html cites: Largest consumer of Internet pornography - 12-17 age group.

Whereas the current version http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html has the more plausible: Largest consumer of Internet pornography - 35-49 age group.

A quick google confirms that there are still 260-odd references to the frankly ludicrous claim that a child can outpr0n an adult, although to be fair to the organisation I corresponded with, they did change their web site to reflect the update. When I did some digging into the sources for the stats overall, they included the 1986 Meese Commission Report (in and of itself considered unreliable), and Top Ten Reviews themselves (who do clearly have an interest in over-stating the scale of the problem) disclaim everything with:

"Statistics are compiled from the credible sources mentioned. In reality, statistics are hard to ascertain and may be estimated by local and regional worldwide sources."

I disagree. The porn industry is still doing very well. You can see the numbers here. (Yes, I know the _TITLE_ of the article is 'Internet Pornography Statistics', but if you read the f'ing thing, you'll see the VHS/DVD sales at the bottom. STILL RELEVANT.) While 2006 showed a metered drop in revenue of about $500m USD, the number of units still increased -- meaning that they're selling more porn, cheaper. Sounds like a competitive market to me.

You wouldn't have as much free porn on the internet if these sites / production companies weren't making some kind of money providing it. By your logic, there shouldn't even be porn DVDs now, since it's all free on the internet anyway. We all know that's not the case!

I would assume that the majority of porn on the net comes from (or is at least hosted in) countries other than the U.S. (Russian spammers and their bot-nets?).

I did a quick search and found this web site that did a comparison of a bunch of leading Timesheet and Time Tracking Applications.

http://time-tracking-management-software-review.to ptenreviews.com/

About half my friends use AVG and the rest use Avast. I used to use AVG (v6) when it was a bit clunky and email scanning was a hack. So I switched to Avast (Free version). Avast is never in your face, except a voice message telling you that its "Virus database is updated".

Avast seems to protect well at first contact. It will alert and block at browse time if things are suspect and even things like sending exe's in emails will get a warning. Its also low on resources.

I was actually having a look just today at this very topic and came across this. http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.co m/ But of course (to me) there's alot more than just reviews stats to clinch it.

I have a friend who works for Trend Micro (PC-cillin) and its definitely a nice product aswell. From the above link and other reading it also seems that NOD32 claims to have the best ITW catch rate of any. I've heard good things about that too.

Not to cast dispersions, but in all honesty, one friend in particular who has only ever used AVG has a very tainted machine. He constantly runs AVG scans hoping to catch whatever is affecting it, but it never seems to get better. Admittedly, that could just be Windows XP for ya :) But personally, like most people, I use what works for me, and tho I have voyaged to many a dangerous corner of the web (using Firefox mind you) Avast certainly gets an A+ from me (and all those I've convinced to use it).

I think I have run an Avast scan once or twice ever. I just rely on On-Access protection and everything is great.

The only brief freak out I had a few months ago was a sudden false positive on a Microsoft Visual Studio file after the virus DB auto updated. I was pretty certain it was ok, so I googled then emailed Avast Support and got a prompt reply saying it had already been fixed and to simply get Avast to fetch the DB file again. Presto problem solved.

No software application is perfect, and being a software developer myself I actually feel comforted by Avast's occasional automatic software self-upgrades (no reboots usually). So you know you are getting any bug fixes and performances improvements the minute they become available. Its a freshing change from alot of slow stale buggy software out there.

You certainly can't go wrong with any of your listed choices but I'm sure you won't be disappointed at least trying Avast.

Good luck :)

First off, you shed negative light on sales associates. They are the ones who (if they're doing their job) provide you with relevant information and enough info to make a decision on which product to buy. Of course their motivation is to make a sale, but why the hell is that a bad thing? The idea is to provide you with choices, and their recommendation of which choice is the best choice. Sure, there are lots of info online, but who really has time these days to browse through countless web pages belonging to sites that may or may not be credible (take ad-sponsored software reviewers like toptenreviews.com)? The fact is, if you don't get information with sales associates, then you'll have a higher chance of not buying a product or returning a product. That is the simple truth. Take it from a person who works in retail.

The last link is hardly interesting.

Are you kidding?!

From the link:

Women, far more than men, are likely to act out their behaviors in real life, such as having multiple partners, casual sex, or affairs.

Women favor chat rooms 2X more than men.

I'm going to a chat room, now.

For all we know, there could simply be a pool of say, 1000, images that are simply being recycled via digital copying over and over. No one has any hard data on this. We know nothing, yet laws are being drafted, essentially on the basis of rhetoric.

From http://www.protectkids.com/dangers/stats.htm#child porn
140,000 child pornography images were posted to the Internet according to researchers who monitored the Internet over six weeks. Twenty children were estimated to have been abused for the first time and more than 1,000 images of each child created

Another interesting site with some statistics:
http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/in ternet-pornography-statistics.html

I agree - pornography is a HUGE problem in our society. Children are especially vulnerable...but the responsibility for filtering out such crap falls upon the parents - not upon legislation.

5 years ago, nearly half of all homes had an internet filter of some sort installed - now, only a quarter do. Is this because of the percieved inadequacies of filters? I agree that in the past they have had problems, but recently, there have been many advances which reduce false-positives (the "breast cancer" point is all but non-existant now).

You can get a filter for free at http://www.k9webprotection.com - they offer it as a community service. You can also find some for-profit filters reviewed at http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/.

According to this site: http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/in ternet-pornography-statistics.html we're talking about a 12 billion dollar business in the US ($57 billion world wide). Assuming that the tax does not reduce subscripts, we're talking about $3 billion a year from this tax. I couldn't find anything specific on state or fedral online Pedifile tracking, but I'd guess the national and state budgets combined are under triple digit millions (ie: $1-99 mil).

So the question is, how is the law enforcement community going to deal with a YEARLY $2.9 billion dollar bonus for online kiddie porn tracking.

The answer is, they're not, that money will get siphoned off and the online police will get a small bonus, or a centralized office and campaign center. The rest will likely go into re-election campaigns. beh.

-Rick