The name of the game is keeping the bad guys from getting close enough to make your anti-virus systems kick in. How is this accomplished? The first way is user behavior. Following these rules will keep the bad guys at bay:

• Never click on links in emails stating they are from business you interact with such as a bank or mail provider.
  • They will usually want you to download an update or update your customer files
  • These links almost never are from the company they claim to be from
• Never download unsolicited software updates
  • Recently there was a concerted attempt to get people to download new server setting to comply with changes made by your mail provider. Right. This email spam was sent out to millions of mail accounts to get the users download malware. I had a customer ask if he should install the update. Needless to say my answer was no.
  • Web sites will pop up messages that your machine has been infected. Your machine has not been infected and if it has been, the solution is not going to come from soem random web site.
• Don’t open unexpected attachments.
  • Sending attachments is a common way to get the end user to install malware.
  • Service providers should not encourage the idea of opening attachments by sending them. Billing info etc should either be imbedded in the email or you should be advised to go to the providers web site for more information.

The second way is when the bad guys have gotten a little closer. This is reflected in the setup of your machine. Users should not be administrators when on the internet. The user should only go into administrative mode when there is a specific need. Nobody likes this and the hate that end users had for the Vista UAC relfects this. Unfortunately this is one of the stronest layers of defense and it is the one most often violated by the home user. If you are not an administrator then even if you accidiently download something you shouldn’t the odds are that the install of the malware will fail. When our customers allow us to set up their systems the way we would like it is extremely rare that there are any problems. Most issues arise when a spcific user is granted administrative rights and with those rights accidentlay installs malware. While the end user is occasionally bothered by not being able to download and install the newest version of Flash or something like that at least they don’t get bothered by the inconvenience of having to rebuild an entire machine.

It took me a while to realize that this was no the case. When I did I figured the torrents must not be happening so I took a look at uTorrent to see what was up. Much to my surprise the two torrents were moving along at a combined 450 Kb which is the maximum speed I get through Comcast. found myself in the position of having more speed than I expected to have.

A little research led me to half open TCP connections. It turns out that Windows 7 removes a restriction which was found in XP and Vista. Those systems limited the number of half open connections to 10. With this restriction removed it seems my torrents are not only going faster, but they are reaching the maximum speed quicker after being initiated.

For those of you still on Windows XP or Vista you can go here: http://half-open.com/home_en.htm to download a little patcher utility to increase your half open connections to the recommended value of between 50 and 100. Enjoy.

Now instead of just having a Windows 7 test bed, I have Windows 7 acting as my primary machine. The good news is that it is behaving well. I had installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64 with some doubt as to whether or not I would like the new interface. I had heard all the good stuff about it, but I really liked the way XP behaved. Sure it was boring and old news in every way, but it worked well and didn’t get in my way.

The most difficult thing for me to get used to is the task bar. Yes it does simplify the task of seeing what all of the windows are doing, but at the same time there is a lot more movement down there. Passing over the top of the different tasks pops open previews and lingering there has windows appearing and disappearing on the desktop. A lot of things moving around.

In the end Windows 7 seems to be what it was promised to be. I have found one little gem which I will discuss later. For now I am going to play a little more to see what else it can do.