Monthly Archives December 2009

You know the game is changing when grandpa asks to “friend” you on Facebook!  Social networking sites are not just expanding in shear numbers but are also growing more mature because of a broader and more sophisticated group of users spanning wider and wider age gaps.  Ironically the paper and pen generation may be bringing a level of depth and utility to the realm of college and high school blabbermouths that was unexpected.  More importantly, they may be driving the financial clout that will finally make these networks pay for themselves.  Full Story …

Seems that Santa had something very nice for Apple stock holders this year: Amid speculation about a forthcoming tablet computer, the company’s shares have risen 145% this year.  he stock surged $6.94, or 3.4%, on Thursday to close at a record high of $209.04. That topped the previous closing high of $207 on Nov. 17.  Full Story …

A recent experiment showed that Yahoo and Microsoft’s Bing search engines could be suckered into giving high search rankings to scammers.  Google didn’t fall for the ploy but admitted that the hackers are getting really clever at fooling search engines along with faking other websites.  Moral of the story: Never give up your personal information to a site that solicits information from you and always double, double check websites before you get on board any kind of program they advocate.  Full Article (Ed Rudel) …

Long time listeners to the Internet Advisor know that Gary, Ed and Foster have all used AVG free anti-virus protection to keep their systems clean for years.  AVG has just released its newest version of its respected free anti-virus but beware: it’s part of a huge security suite.  Free doesn’t pay the rent so it’s not surprising AVG has turned, along with other faithful free friends like Zone Alarm and Avast, to creating huge, all encompassing security suites that offer complete protection.

You can always make a good case for paying $50/yr. for a good security package but now even the free versions come with all sorts of bells and whistles of their own.  The protection is still free if you look hard enough for it but it also comes with so much baggage that make you think that there really isn’t a free lunch anymore.  Download Free version of AVG 9.0 here. …