Half Informed

Source Tweet: @morb01 Check this video out — Big Brother ad by doubleTwist http://bit.ly/YvqWZ

Source Video: YouTube

It’s nice to see Apple get a little jab. I have no idea what the hell doubleTwist is but with Apple’s guerilla ad campaign against Microsoft with Justin Long this is Karma.

Apple long ago had the Big Brother ad as their poke at Microsoft, this was the beginning of a long campaign with an anti-Microsoft overtone hardwired deep within it’s core.  The original idea was that everyone was being controlled, brainwashed and always watched by Microsoft.

But FFWD>> on Apple to today and they have transformed into what they once swore against.

• The being controlled: Apple’s exclusive carrier privileges to AT&T  in the USA and Rogers in Canada just to name one
• Brainwashed: “Mac is a state of mind” And the overall feeling of being ‘in the club’ a Apple Product Owner feels and flaps their gums nonstop about later on. It happened.
• Watching You: Do you honestly think Genius is 100% anonymous even when they say they are not going to peek?

Now don’t get me wrong here. I am not Anti-Apple. But I don’t own a single Apple product. But I have used them and I find the Mac OS a well refined and sleek Operating System. All the native Apple apps are intuitive and using them feels easy and sententious. They are rich in features and once you get over the Windows to Mac learning curve you are set. And the inclusion of a UNIX like console is such an added bonus.

My only dislikes about Apple is the price point on the products. That and and I don’t feel like joining the herd.

Microsoft Security Essentials has been released on their site. Get it here Microsoft.com. In a follow up to yesterdays article @bradgal @ZDNetBlogs | Microsoft blesses us with free AV 09/29/09 #MSE I removed F-Secure from my netbook and installed MSE. I will be trying this out over the next while to see how well it stacks up to F-Secure.

Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0 Installation

The install is pretty straight forward though all you cheap asses out there that do not have a Genuine Advantage legit copy won’t get very far on this installer. The installer also warns that it may conflict with current Anti-Virus solutions so you should remove any current AV/Firewall combo you may have.

After installation MSE goes through a update/ scan process making sure you machine is up to snuff. While this was going on I decided to look around the program and check out its features. To my surprise it has a very clean Windows 7′esque feeling with an easy to navigate user interface.

Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0 Scanning

In the Advanced Tab we see some much needed tools that I am happy to see came with MSE. Exclude rules mainly and also the fact that it didn’t beep at me telling me my copy of mIRC is a ‘potential risk’. The program also comes with shell integration so you can easily right click and scan files you may think are a threat.

Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0 Shell Integration

Microsoft Security Essentials comes with a rather robust set of features considering the price tag. Though it could have more, Microsoft is probably saving those features for its’ retail offering called Forefront.

Only time using this program will tell if it is any good. But at a total cost of zero dollars anyone breaking a sweat over reviewing this probably lives like Vork from The Guild.

Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0 Update Tab

Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0 History Tab

Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0 Settings Tab