BYE-BYE 2012

Taking a look at the hits and misses of 2012 is a lot easier to write about them vs. predicting the future. Someone’s “HIT”, might have been another’s “MISS”, so it's completely my opinion. I’m going to mix it up more than usual, so many items are NOT security related, but I already did a post today on another blog, so I thought I'd post one here as well. Let us start with the FLOPS.

FLOPS OF 2012

Google’s NEXUS Q (probably something most of you have never seen)

Google’s Inexpensive Notebooks – At $200, many people prefer to purchase a handheld tablet, and the Android operating system hasn’t proven to be the most secure OS.

Google APPS – Available from a variety of sites, and not screened thoroughly let Malware incidents on Android phones and tablets to increase by 300% in 2012.

Microsoft’s OFFICE 365 – An alternative to actually buying the software, Microsoft allows users to rent it and use it on the “CLOUD”. This, in itself isn’t a bad idea parse, but the company continued to raise the price on the upcoming OFFICE 2003 software several times until it seemed like a better deal to rent it. They are grasping for dollars.

Microsoft Windows 8 – What can I say about this except that it’s not really a Tablet OS, nor a Desktop OS, it’s an in-between the two OS that is awkward to use, especially on a desktop. If you think Windows 7 was hard to get used to after years of XP, you’ll think it was a cake walk when you see Windows 8. Suggestion: If you are running XP now and plan to buy a new PC, do it before the Windows 7 models disappear [ed. - most brick'n mortar stores like Best Buy, Office Depot, etc. are selling only Windows 8 computers], and your best bet is to have one custom made [ed. - Shameless plug for SUGARLANDPC ] or look online, like Amazon.com.

Microsoft I.E.9 – I still run into customers who are STILL have problems with this version of Internet explorer, yet Microsoft marches ahead with Internet Explorer 10.

Microsoft Security Essentials – Originally introduced in the first Quarter of 2011, this free anti-virus software turned out to be pretty good. So good in fact that many IT shops recommended it as an alternative to an Anti-Virus software you purchase. But something happened this year where MS SEC ESS fell into the depths of one of the worst Anti-Virus solutions you could pick.

APPLE’s “iMaps” APP – Would this little piggy have gone to market if Jobs were still alive? I don’t think so Dave. Heads rolled at APPLE HQ of this one.

Hard Drive Quality – Perhaps it was the flooding of Thailand, the economy, or cheaper components, but many hard drive manufacturers dropped lengthy warranties down to 1 year, and if you’ve purchased a computer in the last 12-14 months you probably have a drive with a 1 year warranty. What does it all mean? Start backing up your data!

Microsoft Tablets with Windows 8 RT – This special OS is designed to run on a ARM CPU (Not Intel or AMD) which means you can’t install your old programs onto it, you’ll have to go online and see what sort of APP’s are available. Many people were not told this before purchase.

Anti-Virus Software - This is more of a "disappointment" for 2012 vs. a FLOP. When you plunk down $80 for Anti-Virus software you figure you're fairly immune from malware, but this year proved that wasn't necessarily true. They tried their best, but they were overwhelmed by a flood of viruses and could not keep up. Hopefully they've adjusted a few things within their respective companies to render faster updates than the previous year, because security experts are predicting 2013 to be worse.

Okay, those were my "FLOPS", and I'll try and come up with some predictions for the new year.

MICROSOFT PATCHES ZERO DAY EXPLOIT IN I.E. 6, 7, 8

Yup, they patched it. Whether or not it could be done on their end, or if it will be a critical patch download is unclear.

'Nuff Said,
Brian