Jeremy’s World

I recently moved to the Mac platform having used Windows-based machines and Office for well over 5 years.  Being a student (in both computer science, politics and French) as well as working part-time for a company that manages buildings, I often make use of a word processor to put together essays, specification documents, manuals and briefs.  As a result, being able to use a powerful, yet simple word processor is necessary for me.  I don’t always make use of word processors to the full power of Microsoft Word, although with those features available, life is made a little easier.

So, when I moved over to the Mac platform in late November last year, I was confronted with an interesting question - which word processor would I use?  Would I stay with the Microsoft Office application: Word, or was it worth trying something else like OpenOffice Writer (which I use often at uni on the linux machines) or maybe even Mac’s latest version of Pages ‘08?

I got myself a copy of Office 2004 for the Mac and began trying out the functionality in comparison to the well-known Office 2003 (by the way, I still think users on Windows should stick with Office 2003 and not move to Office 2007 until, maybe, late 2008 when everything is truly set in concrete - if Vista is anything to go by of course).  It became immediately obvious that working with Word 2004 was going to be problematic.  There were clear interface problems - failure of pictures to appear from ex-Windows documents, scrolling issues with footnoted documents (such as some of my essays) as well as other smaller little things.  These were more accentuated with my Dad’s mac when he moved over having been a long long time Windows Office user.

I knew that Microsoft Office 2008 would be coming out in the New Year, but that was just not good enough for me.  So, I decided to give Pages a go.  Pages is part of Apple’s iWork suite (the latest version being iWork ‘08 which comes as a trial version with the latest version of OS X, Leopard).  Pages is an interesting product.  It has a very nice clean interface, but its approach to word processing is clearly different from that of Word (although I note that Word 2008 for the Mac seems to have taken some of the ideas from Pages such as Toolbox idea).

I was pleasantly surprised to find though that the different way of working… well… worked.  It did take a bit of getting used to at first, but I was soon able to produce elegant specification documents for the development of a piece of research software I am working at the moment¹.

There are of course problems, however, with some of the functions of pages - these are possibly resulting partly from me as a user of Word - but it is important to note these for users making a move to the Mac and considering using pages.  For example:

• Line spacing is signficantly different in Pages as opposed to Word - this is particularly in an issue when attempting to import Word documents into Pages
• The handling of bullets is a little strange in Pages, especially when trying to move outside a bullet/numbering block, it is still yet to be natural
• Page numbering can sometimes be a little weird when working with some of Pages’ constructs such as the types of breaks available

However, at the same time:

• Styles and images are easily manipulated and transfer well from an imported Word document
• The interface is relatively easy to work with thanks to Apple’s core operating system interface

I will be honest though: since the release of Office 2008 for the Mac, I have moved back primarily to Word as many of the existing issues in Word 2004 have been resolved in Word 2008 making working in MS Office for the Mac a little more of a joy than a burden.  Having said that, Pages is still a good alternative if you want to try out something else.

Jerry Pournelle has several interesting articles on moving to the Mac and using MS Word for the Mac on his website for interested users looking at the possibility of making a change of operating systems (and essentially the way of working).

Oh… a conclusion… if a new computer user starting with a Mac or a user moving from Windows to the Mac, stick with MS Office.  However, make sure you get your hands on a copy of Office 2008 for the Mac and not Office 2004!  If you want an alternative, Pages from iWork ‘08 does function well, but is probably still well behind MS Office.

So you are infected!  This page should hopefully provide you with a full arsenal of tools to resolve an existing infection that anti-badware detection and prevention tools have been unable to resolve.

SmitFraudFix by S!Ri

What is it? SmitFraudFix is one of the ultimate malware killers found online.  It kills just about every type of know malware hijacker that exists in cyberspace.  SmitFraudFix would have to be one of the best pieces of software written to kill badware.  It should be your first choice when dealing with an unknown badware problem on your computer.

How do I know if I need it? If you have a problem with your machine: slowness, pop-up ads, strange behaviour - then SmitFraudFix should be your first stop. If you have anti-virus software which has detected a problem which cannot be fixed, then you should also turn to SmitFraudFix.

Where can I get it? SmitFraudFix.exe is available from s!Ri’s SmitFraudFix webpage.  You can also find copy’s of the software from associated mirrors and via a google web search.

ComboFix by sUBs

What is it? ComboFix is a general malware killer.  It looks for a host of known trojans, adware and malware and does its best to eliminate the infecting software.

How do I know if I need it? This is not the easiest of questions.  If you suspect you have a piece of malware software on your machine, then ComboFix might be a good bet to fix the problem.  Detecting Badware is never easy - you can try one of the Badware detection programs above if you think you have a problem.

Where can I get it? ComboFix is available from bleepingcomputer.com, forospyware.com and geekstogo.com.  You should use ComboFix with caution.  A good explanation of the software can be from the bleepingcomputer.com’s website.

CWS Shredder by Merjin

What is it? CWS Shredder is a brilliant little piece of software for getting rid of the extremely annoying CoolWebSearch malware hijacker, one of the most common and annoying pieces of badware on the Internet.  Written by the brilliant Merjin, the create of HijackThis, CWS Shredder can get rid of all existing CWS infections and variants.

How do i know if I need it? If you have Cool Web Search as your homepage in your browser, then this tool is definitely for you!

Where can I get it?  You can get CWS Shredder and a host of other great detection and removal tools from Merjin.org.  CWS Shredder is also available at the TrendMicro website as TrendMicro officially purchased the tool from Merjin in 2004.

VundoFix by Atri

What is it? VundoFix is an application for killing the Vundo trojan.  This trojan is one of the more common pieces of badware I have come across in the last year.  Atri at atribune.org has written a brilliant piece of software to get rid of this monster of a trojan.

How do I know if I need it? Things begin to slow down on your computer.  Not just the operating system, but applications and your Internet connection as well.  You might notice rogue processes with random letters and numbers running such as “urqnn”.  You should use HijackThis to detect the Badware: look for O2s and O20s that look rather suspicious.

Where can I get it? You can get a copy of the latest version of VundoFix.exe at Atri’s website.  Atri updates this removal tool regularly when he comes across new strains of the trojan.

RogueRemover FREE by MalwareBytes

What is it? RogueRemover is another anti-malware piece of software for removing existing infections on a machine. RogueRemover comes in two versions:  FREE and PRO.  The free version is enough for typical infections and is a worthy install for those who suspect that have been infected by badware.

How do I know if I need it? RogueRemover can act as a useful scanning tool as well as a removal application.  It is yet another tool in your potential anti-badware arsenal.  If you experience slowness or pop-up ads, get this useful piece of software.

Where can I get it? RogueRemover FREE is available from MajorGeeks and BetaNews.

ATF Cleaner by Atri

What is it? Yet another great tool from Atri, ATF Cleaner is a temporary file cleaner for getting rid of nasty badware and its associated rubbish that may sit in you temporary file folders.

How do I know if I need it? ATF Cleaner is a good tool to have in general.  Any typical user should have ATF Cleaner installed on their machine and make use of it at least once every month to get rid of the typical rubbish that accumulates on a Windows machine.

Where can I get it? ATF-Cleaner.exe is available at atribune.org.

KillBox by Option^Explicit

What is it? KillBox is a tool for removing in use files.  Files that are in use are usually running as processes on your machine or are actively being used by a process.  Windows protects in use files by disabling the ability to delete them.  KillBox circumvents this protection mechanism and can be handy for getting rid of nasty Badware.

How do I know if I need it? If you are attempting to get rid of a piece of badware and come across an error where the file is in use and you cannot remove it, make use of KillBox to remove the file.  It is also useful for getting rid of temp files in use that you know are not required to be kept.  But make sure you use KillBox with caution.  It is definitely not for the faint-hearted.

Where can I get it? KillBox.exe is available at KillBox.Net or do a general web search.

Well it has been just under six months now since I got myself my first MacBook from the UNSW Apple store in Sydney, Australia.  And the verdict is…

WOW!

Prior to the purchase of this Mac, I had only previously used Macs on two occasions:  during a work experience week in Year 10 at school at MCSU UNSW with a long-time Mac user and before that in Year 4 in primary school using the very ancient Apple II where I played a game which was a cross between multiplication table exercises and an alien space ship shooter.

Having been a long-time Windows user and a recent convert to Linux as a result of my studies, I was at first quite sceptical about Mac OS X (especially having heard some serious disaster stories with OS 10 and 10.1).  Of course with the huge press hype and the move an x86 based system, as well as recent successes with the iPod, the Apple brand caught my attention again.  I also noticed that many of my computer science lecturers were beginning to use Macs to present their lectures.  This made me start to wonder what all the fuss was about - if more and more computer science educators are using Macs over Windows-based machines… there must be a reason.

So, I jumped online and had a look at the Apple website - more specifically at the OS X section of the site and to my surprise I found that Apple was going to release a new version of the system near the end of the year, OS X 10.5 or more commonly known as Leopard.  Having looked at the range of features packed into the system I was thoroughly impressed.  I decided to do some more research and find out about the guts of the OS.  To my surprise it was a melange of some of the best (and sometimes worst) parts of unix-based operating systems with a Mach kernel thrown in on the side for interest.

Having debated for a month inside my head on the investment (although I had already probably decided after about two days) I went and got myself a Mac.  And here I am nearly six months later, using the very same Mac and happily impressed.

This single post would not be enough to my summarise all my loves and hates of Leopard (I’ll do that another time), however in brief the best things I find about the Mac operating system are:

• You get simplicity in the applications, yet can still have enough control of your machine thanks in part to the unix-like kernel and the supposedly much improved terminal interface.
• Much of the software is open source and based on long-standing, well developed software systems which have been a part of unix for well over two decades.
• You don’t suffer as badly from the bane of badware, adware, trojans, worms, viruses, malware and other crap that seems to infest Windows based systems.
• You get the beautiful Quartz interface which is simply a delight to work with
• and… It’s not Vista!

Of course a few pet hates:

• Java is not particularly great on the Mac yet… hopefully that will change soon… but as a developer it is a bit of a pain in the ass
• Productivity software has come a long way and with the release of MS Office 2008, things have improved, but it is still lacking in a few areas as my dad pointed out well… for example users of EndNote still don’t have the support they need to use a Mac (i.e. the software!)

But overall, so far the Mac gets a solid 9/10 from me.  It doesn’t quite get a 10 simply because nothing can be perfect (although the Mac is getting there).  If I were recommending a system to buy for a new or experienced computer user, I would definitely rate a Mac as my first choice now, especially since most Windows based machines are released with Vista nowadays - c’est dommage!

Apple… please keep up the good work!  And let’s not see security suffer in the process of striving for ease of use and compatability (hint to Microsoft).

This page and its children are dedicated to the various types of multimedia, as well as computer applications to take advantage of range of mediums and additionally the way the related industries are handling production, sourcing and distribution of various forms of content.  It will also explore the other side of the coin - the technical side of multimedia and various pieces of software and code snippets for taking advantage of multimedia in software applications.