billso.com

Last Saturday we took a tour of the Superferry, and I took a few pictures for this blog. The Alakai arrived in Honolulu in early July and remains docked at Pier 19 while the Coast Guard does its final inspections of the vessel. About 4000 people participated in the event, according to this article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

The main cabin is spacious and well-lit. The cafe section has plenty of tables. Voyages can range from 4 to 6 hours, and that’s plenty of time to grab a snack and talk story.

Most of the interior seating in the main cabin is located away from the windows. There are flat-screen displays mounted throughout the cabin. During the tour, the monitors showed a video that must have been shot while the Alakai sailed to Honolulu. On a regular voyage, the monitors will display interesting ocean sights captured by the ship’s video cameras.

There is a spacious first-class cabin on the bow. It costs an extra US$20 a seat. I wonder if the Superferry’s staff will be diligent about keeping the main cabin customers out of the premium areas. I’ve rarely seen flight attendants tell people to return to the main cabin, although that warning is a standard part of the safety briefing these days.

Plenty of amenities, but there’s something missing

First class is the only place where I saw accessible AC outlets, and these were few and far between. We saw perhaps 4 or 5 work carrels in this cabin. At least the few outlets that we found didn’t have a meter attached to them, as they now do at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Anyone who wants to watch a movie on their laptop needs to board the Superferry early or make sure they charged their battery.

There’s no evidence that the Superferry will offer Internet access during voyages, either.

According to an article in yesterday’s Honolulu Advertiser, two court cases regarding the ferry’s environmental impact are due to be heard soon.

While I’m glad we got a chance to see the Alakai, it seems that the Superferry’s management had planned for a smaller event:

1. There were no souvenirs available. No free pens. No t-shirts. No hats. Even the boat’s gift shop was closed! This seems like a missed opportunity to get the brand and logo out to the most interested members of the public.
2. The boat seemed short-staffed. Most of the employees were leading very quick tours of the vessel. It was hard to find anyone who could answer a question or two.
3. While the Superferry is taking reservations online and by telephone, I couldn’t find anyone who was taking Superferry reservations during the event. All those willing customers right on board the boat, and no money changing hands?
4. There is no passenger parking at Pier 19. If you want to ride the Superferry without taking your car on board, then take a cab or have a friend drop you at the pier. I hope that the Superferry adds those tips to their walk-on passengers page soon. Most of the tour groups were shuttled in from downtown Honolulu courtesy of the Superferry, and a shuttle service from a remote parking lot might be a good side business.
5. I didn’t see any rental car counters at Pier 19. Perhaps riders should call Enterprise if they need a rental car to pick them up!

A recent New York Times interview with OpenDNS CEO David Ulevitch prompted today’s blog post. This is actually one of my favorite speedup tips for residential broadband users, and it should work for Oceanic Time Warner, Hawaiian Telcom and Clearwire customers.

Speed up your web browsing one simple change on your router or computer - for free!

The billso.com domain name is much easier to remember than its current IP address of 208.97.168.17, so one service that every ISP provides access to is the Domain Name System or DNS. The DNS is a remarkable distributed database that maps alphanumeric web addresses to the numeric equivalents. Without DNS, the Internet as we know it just wouldn’t work.

If you’d like to do your own lookups to see the IP addresses of other web sites, try this page.

From what I’ve seen, OpenDNS is certainly faster than other domain name services that I’ve tried. Here’s the company’s explanation. I’m not sure if OpenDNS works as well outside the United States, however. The company has a data center in London and will open another facility in Hong Kong, to complement its four data centers in the mainland United States.

It only takes a few minutes to change your computer’s domain name settings to the OpenDNS servers, as long as you have administrative rights on your computer. Just read the OpenDNS tutorial and make the appropriate choices. Be sure to reboot or restart your computer after confirming the changes.

If you have a router at home, you might consider changing the domain name settings on the router, instead of changing the settings on all your computers. Again, be sure to save or confirm the changes on your router.

Note: If you use your portable computer in your employer’s office, you should check with your IT staff before changing the domain name settings.

Many ISPs rely on domain name servers provided by an upstream provider. Some ISPs host their own domain name servers. In both cases, the response time for a user can lag for a variety of reasons. The slower the DNS service, the longer it takes your ISP to route your request for a web page to the right IP address.

Most ISPs let their users select their own DNS servers. While there are a variety of free and public DNS servers available on the Internet, most of them cannot handle a large number of simultaneous users.

Security is another concern. I wouldn’t trust an domain name server from a third party that isn’t my ISP or employer, unless there was a good reason to do so. After all, it is trivial for the server’s admin to substitute the IP address of a spoof web site for a popular domain name such as paypal.com or ebay.com.

OpenDNS appears to be trustworthy, so I feel confident that they are looking up the correct IP addresses. The service will also block phishing sites, adult web sites, as well as auto-correcting mispelled domain names like cnn.cmo - for most users, that name should probably be cnn.com, after all.

There are business that are built on misspelled domain names, however. Some call this practice typosquatting, and Valleywag has a brief discussion of this practice here.

I’ve already posted some articles about the Domain Name System (DNS):

• March 23: .xxx and the Domain Name System
• February 6, 2007: The story of .um
• February 6, 2007: Hackers attack .org computers

In this morning’s Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Mayor Mufi Hannemann claimed that he still prefers the City Council’s route for the proposed mass transit system - “in the short-term”. I discussed the upcoming environmental impact study, which will include the council’s route and two alternatives that would serve the airport, on June 19. The mayor went on to say that if an airport loop was necessary, the state could pay for that extension from its airport funds.

The mayor’s request is a clever one

Hannemann hasn’t given up on including the airport in the city’s train/bus/whatever plans. The state will be closely involved in any mass transit proposal, because some of the lines would have torun on state roads. Why not get the airport, which collects a few billion dollars in taxes and fees each year, to help pay for the line if it goes through the airport?

The ever-helpful Charles Djou now claims that the mayor’s statement indicates the city doesn’t have enough money to build a mass transit line.

It’s easy to say no in City Council, and Djou has said “no” many times over the last few years. Does Djou realize that lieutenant governors don’t get to say “no” very often? If Djou does follow through on his announcement, and he wins the lieutenant governor’s seat as a Republican, he’ll be in a different set of circumstances.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported yesterday that more Honolulu drivers are riding alone to work. Today’s Honolulu Advertiser explained how ridership levels on The Bus have rebounded after the 2003 bus drivers strike. The Star-Bulletin printed a chart with some interesting figures: on Oahu, the number of people driving along went from 61.4% to 67% between 2000 and 2005, while carpooling dropped 4 points. The Advertiser’s graph showed bus revenue from almost US$20M in 1993 to US$41.5M in 2006.

“Telecommuting one day a week, working at home, cuts down demand on roads significantly… It doesn’t cost anything and immediately saves money.”

Panos Prevedouros, an engineering professor at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, provided a puzzling quote that closed the Star-Bulletin’s article. Here’s my brief list of reasons why telecommuting isn’t free.

1. The employee may have to provide her own computer if the company hasn’t done so.
2. The company should provide secure remote access for employees. A VPN to the office network is essential.
3. The employee’s computer should be clean and free of viruses, malware, spyware, keystroke loggers and zombies. Think of the telecommuter’s computer as an extension of the company’s network. How does the company’s IT department profile off-site computers?
4. The telecommuting employee has to provide her own utilities and amenities, including furniture, electricity, Internet access, and air conditioning.
5. There’s the psychological costs of remote work. Some employees may prefer to work in an office environment. Working from home is one powerful way for an employer to exert more control over an employee.
6. Working offsite can be distracting. it’s tempting to turn on the TV or chat on the phone while working from home.
7. Schedules may become too flexible. Add “just one” errand or “only a few” chores into an offsite workday, and the telecommuting employee becomes less productive and attentive.

I’m assuming that Dr. Prevedouros is thinking of commuters who work in an office environment provided by their employer. Some of the items on this list would be different for commuter who owns their own business, and this article does a nice job of covering various tools that a business owner might use.

You may want to print this post and save the hard copy for later use. If your computer does become infected by a virus, you might not be able to retrieve this information.

On one of the hobby web sites that I visit, I noticed a forum thread this morning. Several users complained that a web ad posted on that site gave their computers a virus infection - specifically, Trojan.Ducky.B or Bloodhound.Exploit.56. (Yes, there are several groups that name the same viruses, and it can be confusing.)

Web ad brokers such as ValueClick are supposed to provide clean, free web ads to sites. Web sites that display the ads earn commissions when users click through the ads. Unfortunately, these ad distribution networks are a sneaky way to infect Windows machines and turn them into zombies.

I don’t offer repair services for my students, but I can point you towards other reliable reosurces. So here’s some advice, no warranty expressed or implied, for home and personal Windows users.

Always consult your organization’s or company’s IT department if it’s their computer, because they already have software and procedures in place for you. Those policies and agreements are usually considered part of your employment contract. Also, their software may be part of a corporate or enterprise system.

I have talked to Windows users who refuse to run a virus program or use Windows Update. I try not to laugh or scold, but their behavior is like walking on the freeway. Sooner or later, if you have a cable modem, DSL, or WiFi connection, you will get hit, and your computer will receive a virus.

My computer’s security systems block several virus attempts every day. I didn’t do anything wrong. These viruses are out “in the wild”, attached to incoming e-mail and hidden on web sites.

Unless you paid for premium service that specifically includes virus infections, your warranty or service plan does not cover virus removal and data recovery. Your computer’s manufacturer and Microsoft won’t provide much help if you call them, especially if you haven’t taken steps to secure your computer.

Check with your Internet Service Provider

A few large Internet Service Providers (ISPs), including EarthLink, Road Runner, Hawaiian Telcom and AOL, provide free antivirus programs and limited support for subscribers. It’s worth checking out before you have a problem.

Why do ISPs give away software that you could buy in a local store? It’s in an ISP’s best interests to do so, as a major virus outbreak can compromise their connection quality and create a spike in call center volume.

Some ISPs and companies use network appliances that scan and clean incoming and outgoing network traffic. These are excellent tools, but they are expensive. Also, it is generally assumed that the final sender or recipient of a message is responsible for scanning it.

If there are viruses in the wild, then why don’t we scan the Internet itself? It makes little sense to scan traffic as it goes through the Internet. If the packets are encrypted, they probably cannot be scanned at all. Also, in the United States, there are regulations and privacy restrictions that prevent the casual snooping of data, except in the interests of national security.

The most compelling argument against a perpetual virus scan of the Internet is the cost. It’s more effective and efficient to place the traps at the points of entry and delivery.

In the end, if it’s your own computer, then it’s your data. This is why organizations and businesses have IT departments - to protect hardware, software and data before something bad happens. See our discussion of disaster recovery for more information.

If your Windows computer is already infected

If your computer is already infected by a virus, and you’re in Honolulu, disconnect the computer from the Internet and shut it down. You don’t want to spread the virus, and restarting the computer might make the situation worse.

If this is your own computer, consider calling a local computer reapir service such as CompUSA or Personal Touch Computers. SuperGeeks has stores on Honolulu, Kailua-Kona and Maui. They will remove the virus infection for a fee.

If this is your company’s computer, report the problem immediately to your IT staff. They will help you remove the virus.

If this is not a corporate computer, and you want to try cleaning it yourself, go to a clean computer, and visit your antivirus vendor’s web site. Here’s an example from Symantec. Some antivirus vendors post free cleaning programs that will disinfect some viruses. Son’t buy and install a new antivirus program on an infected computer. You can download the cleaner to a USB memory stick or other external media. Be sure that media is clean and free of viruses first!

If your antivitus program came with a CD, check the manual. That CD may also be a bootable disk that can be used to clean an infected computer. You may need to read your computer’s manual to change your BIOS settings first.

Windows Update vs Microsoft Update

One way to keep your Windows system secure is to run Windows Update and apply the patches regularly. Microsoft issues a set of patches on the second Tuesday of each month. Check your settings in the Control Panel’s Security Center, if you use Windows XP.

Better yet, do the free upgrade to Microsoft Update. Go to Windows Update, and if you see the Microsoft Update invitation, click on the link. Microsoft Update adds Microsoft Office updates to the patches. You may need your Office installation CDs if you installed that suite from disk.

You do need a legal copy of Windows and Office to qualify - pirated or cracked copies might not receive automatic updates.

Other security tools

I’ve seen one download that might prevent these ad-based infections. It’s called GreenBorder, and it works on Windows to protect Interenet Explorer from exploits. It’s not an antivirus program, so you can use it with your current antivirus setup.

My father tried GreenBorder after reading Walt Mossberg’s recommendation in the WSJ, and dad likes it a lot. I tried it, but I have been using Firefox as my web browser for a couple of years. Its extensions, like GreaseMonkey, give me a lot of control in blocking browser ads.

Another tool that I like is SpywareBlaster. It’s a free download for Windows, but it’s not an “always-on” scanner. This software finds and closes known holes in Internet Explorer and Firefox. I would install, update and run it once a month.

Free antivirus programs

I do meet students who say they can’t afford an antivirus program, or they let their update subscription lapse because it was too expensive.

If you need a free antivirus scanner and subscription, and you subscribe to Earthlink, HawTel, Road Runner, or AOL, see my recommendations above.

If you want to use something else, I can recommend two programs. They are free for home or personal use, and I like them better than McAfee or Norton.

Both programs will automagically update themselves if you set the preferences correctly, and have an always-on connection to the Internet.

freeav.com
avast.com

Only one at a time

Always, always UNINSTALL your previous antivirus before installing a new one, even if you are only “trying out” a new antivirus like avase or FreeeAV.

NEVER, EVER RUN TWO ANTIVIRUS PROGRAMS AT THE SAME TIME ON THE SAME COMPUTER.

I’ve heard users say that two antivirus programs must be better than one. It doesn’t work that way. If you install and run two antivirus scanners on the same computer, they will each act as if the other scanner is a virus. Every antivirus scanning program assumes that it is the only one scanning your computer.

An antivirus scanner works at a privileged level in your operating system, so that it can intercept, access and scan files before other applications can do so. That’s what these scanners are designed to do.

If a second scanner is monitoring the activity, the first scanner’s behavior will appears to be viral. Your files will be caught in the middle, and your computer might not restart properly.

Be aware that some “Interent security” suites like McAfee and Norton include antivirus protection along with software firewalls and other features. You may have to open your security suite and permanently disable its antivirus feature before installing another antivirus program.

Frankly, I would not run a security suite and a separate antivirus program. The risk to my data is too great.

Installing a new antivirus program safely

Download your new antivirus program and save it to your desktop, or to external media such as a USB memory stick.

Don’t run the new antivirus right away. Disable or unplug your Internet connection on the computer that requires the new antivirus program.

I recommend removing your old antivirus program. Disabling it not may not be enough - the new antivirus might recognize the old antivirus, even when the old program is disabled.

Go to the Control Panel and Add/Remove Programs to uninstall your old antivirus program. Restart your computer, then install the new antivirus.