Keeping The Viruses Out - Oxford Times June 2004

Written For: Oxford Times 'In Business' supplement
Published: June 2004

Yes, I know the information in this article is basic. Yes, it's Janet and John stuff. It was meant to be - that's what they asked for.

Keeping The Viruses Out
Nearly all of us use computers at some point in work or at home. And nearly all of us are 'connected' now. We surf the Internet, send e-mail and shop online.

In our daily lives, we protect ourselves as best we can from the things we do not want to happen. We wear seat belts and lock our doors and windows when we leave home. But we do not automatically take the same precautions with our computers.

When a new computer virus hits, we do not learn. Unpathced, unprotected networks slow the Internet to a crawl.

Computers without virus protection spew thousands of copies of the latest worm or virus out to thousands more unprotected users.

The Sasser worm and its variants, spreading across the Internet, infected millions of machines across the world. HM Coastguard had problems with its computers. So did Deutsche Post. So did Railcorp in Australia and banks in Hong Kong.

The cost to businesses, large and small, of a virus infection is vast. Think about it. Your staff cannot work because their computers are down. Your email systems are overloaded with incoming virus-laden mail and warnings from other companies' protection systems. Then there's the cost of an IT consultant to come in, disinfect your systems, and patch them to make sure they do not fall prey to that virus again.

A short time later the next worm or virus hits. And the next. And the next. See the pattern?

It is quick and easy to take precautions to protect your computer and network. It can be cheap too.

The first step to take is patching your system. The likelihood is you are running a version of Microsoft Windows. It is easy to make sure you have the latest updates, and it will not cost you anything to check and do it. Simply go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and scan your system. The Microsoft update sytem will check your software and recommend the updates you need - thenb helps you download and install them.

If you are running Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP, you can have the updates installed direct to your computer, without having to go to the update site again.

Once you are updated, you have a degree of protection aginst security flaws that some viruses - like the Sasser worm - exploit to do their damage.

Once the system is up to date, you need to put locks on it. That means a firewall.

Put simply, a firewall sits between the data on your computer and the Internet, and controls what can get in and out. Just like a doorman at a nighclub, the firewall holds the 'guest list' for the machine and if a name is not down, they are not getting in!

A properly configured Internet firewall can prevent you getting infected from malicious programs or websites, and keep hackers out of your system and away from your personal data.

For home users, a software firewall is usually fine. These programs run in the background on your home PC, protecting it as you surf the Internet. A wide range of software firewalls are available, but two fo the best are Norton Internet Security 2004 and Zone Alarm Pro.

for the business user, a software firewall is not really enough. To keep your network safe from damage and your data free from prying eyes, you should invest in a hardware firewall, a separate, dedicated machine that sits between your server - or main computer - and your internet connection.

Using a separate machine keeps even professional hackers at an increased distance from your important data. Also, hardware firewalls have a greater depth of security measures and more options, allowing you greater levels of control over what comes in and out of your office.

There is a bewildering array of options and products when it comes to hardware firewalls, from basic units up to high-end products. For the smaller business, the best security and value can be obtained from companies like Watchguard and lower-end Cisco models. At the higher end, systems from Cisco and Microsoft's Internet Security and Acceleration Server offer power, security and control - at a price.

Finally, once you have got your computer or network updated and secured, you need to ensure it stays healthy. This means good, solid virus protection from a reputable manufacturer, and it needs to be updated at least once a week, if not more often. Those on a broadband internet connection should consider setting their anti-virus to update daily.

For the home user, consider a product such as Norton Anti-Virus 2004 - this is included as a module within the Norton Internet Security package. Business users can look at the Norton Anti-Virus network and corporate Editions, and products from McAfee, Network Associates and Sophos.

Finally, the last - and arguably most important - part of your new, secure computer environment is your own common sense.

Do not trust to chance that everything will be OK. Make sure you update your patches and virus protection. Do not open an email attachment unless it is from someone you know and they have told you to expect it.

the bottom line is simple - get secure. After all, you would not leave your house unlocked when you go out, would you?

How to be a wicked stepdad - Babyworld, 2004

Written For: Babyworld.co.uk
Date of Publication: 2004

So you've met your ideal woman. You're in love, the sex is fantastic - you want to spend the rest of your lives together. You're embarking on a journey that's as terrifying, exhilarating, and life-changing as becoming a father the traditional way. Neil tells babyworld what it's like to be a stepdad.

The Partridge Family?

I love my two stepchildren - my ten-year-old stepdaughter (teenager attitude, 40-year-old's cynicism), and my six-year-old stepson (a hurricane in trainers) - as if they were my own. But what does it mean to be a stepdad? What will you lose? What will you gain? Where do sex and beer fit into the whole thing?

I can't claim to offer the magic that will turn your Stepdad-ship into The Partridge Family. But I know I'd have done some things differently, and maybe they're things to look out for.

The easy way out …

A friend said I'd taken the easy way out; getting an instant family instead of doing it 'properly'. While I wouldn't ever belittle how hard it is to be a birth father, people sometimes assume that it's easy to be a stepdad. It isn't. It's bloody hard.

I challenge anyone to have a first meeting with a ten-year-old who's grumpy, wants to be out with her friends, doesn't know why mummy needs another new boyfriend … get the picture?

It's HARD. Sometimes you'll wonder why you gave up your old lifestyle for the living hell you're experiencing. Steel yourself for the inevitable scream of 'You're not my dad!', which will come at some future point. It's worth it.

Father vs father

I think it's good if the children are still in contact with their natural father. My two see their father every other weekend. They look forward to it, and so does he. But you don't have to be better than their father. You don't need to beat him at parenting/ football/sex/[insert pointless pissing contest here]. Look at the facts. You're with her. He isn't. That's all that matters. It's good for a brief gloat, but leave it at that.

You're bound to get jealous when he collects them and they're screaming for cuddles and kisses. It's normal - but there are a couple of things to consider:

First, the kids see you every day. They don't see him that often. They're excited.

Second, remember that children are both perceptive and manipulative. They will sense your feelings, and play on them to gain things like McDonalds, sweets and guilt toys.

There's one BIG benefit to the kids visiting their father. Remember beer and sex? Now's your chance. No worrying if the babysitter got smashed on your vodka and left dubious stains on the sofa with her lumpish boyfriend. No children wandering into the bedroom asking for breakfast or drinks.

For a too-brief time, you and your partner can play at being single. Don't waste it. If their father wasn't around, you wouldn't get that. Ever. So maybe he is useful.

Family life

Sorry, but your new family were a family before you came along. They managed for some time without you. You coming along doesn't make an incomplete family whole. Well, not at first.

There'll be times you'll feel like an intruder, spoiling what was running smoothly. That's natural - she'll have routines established and, to be honest, you do actually stick a hefty spanner in the works.

There's kids to be fed. Housework becomes never-ending. Homework needs to be helped with. If there's more than one sibling, you're peacemakers and referees.

She's has been doing it longer than you. She knows what she's doing. Try to change her routines and you'll annoy her. Which may stop any activities after the children are in bed.

Which is bad. Especially as you're unlikely to be getting that as often as you'd like.

So don't jeopardise it. Do the hardest thing you've ever done - change yourself. Fit in with the routines already established. Be there to help with the chores and homework. DON'T assume you can do it better than she can. You can't. Watch how she does it, try to handle things the same way, and don't be afraid to ask for advice. You'll need it - I did, more times than I could count.

Because as I said- it's worth it. Every change, every sacrifice to your old lifestyle, every time you prove your reliability, the time you finally explain geometry - it'll all be rewarded.

The rewards

A while ago my stepson went on a football course. When I collected him he said 'Hi, Dad!' and gave me a kiss. When my stepdaughter went away recently, she called home and told me she missed me.

After several false starts, my frequent bad temper and untold mistakes, I've learned how to love my stepkids - and they love me back.

And that's what being a stepdad means.

'From Lad to Dad' - Book Review, Babyworld 2005

Review of: 'From Lad to Dad' by Stephen Giles
Written For: Babyworld.co.uk
Date of Review: August 2005

What it's all about: 'From Lad to Dad' is, unsurprisingly, one man's journey through pregnancy and into fatherhood. Stephen Giles uses a journal-type format to chart his feelings, his fears and his joys from the first steps in conception to his first Christmas as a new Dad.

Presentation: A short book at just 106 pages, the book takes a simple narrative style, interspersed with words of advice taken from his own experience and those of other fathers who contributed.

Tone and target audience: It is easy to read, written with humour, sensitivity and intelligence. The tone and approach is light, and while not avoiding the more serious issues doesn't make anything too deep and meaningful. Imagine Nick Hornby with less football, a touch less wit and fewer euphemisms for excrement, and you get the idea. I wouldn't class this as a useful book - it's more entertainment than education, despite Giles's stated intentions, and he's never going to supplant Miriam Stoppard.

The good points: There's some good information in 'From Lad to Dad', including useful pointers towards paternity leave entitlement and when you are eligible to apply for it. Giles also offers helpful advice on dealing with the assorted professionals (and amateurs) encountered on the tricky trek to fatherhood.

It's a light, easy read with a good sense of humour, introducing dads to the trials and joys of pregnancy without inducing bowel-squeezing terror or galloping alcoholism. It's small and light enough to fit in the hospital bag, so it could be a good delivery room read.

The bad points: Like many fathers I've met, he seemed to try to make the whole thing dramatic - it's not enough to have conception, pregnancy and birth, it has to be worthy of E.R. in drama and Hitchcock in suspense. This made me take his suggestions less seriously than they perhaps deserved.

One thing I disliked was the tendency to use this book as a vehicle to plug other White Ladder Press publications. If I want to quit smoking, I'll search Amazon and find a book. I don't need advertising in a parenting book, thanks.

Chips, Videos & Alcohol' - Book Review, Babyworld 2005

Review of: 'Chips, Videos & Alcohol' by Alan Charlton
Written For: Babyworld.co.uk
Date of Review: 24 August 2005

What it's all about: Alan Charlton bills 'Chips, Videos & Alcohol' as the essential guide to being a house husband. He brings his eleven years of house-husbandry to the fray, outlining his experiences, and telling us the ups and downs - in his case, mostly downs - of the work he's done raising his two children.

Tone and target audience: This is a light read - short and with a conversational style designed to give the impression he's talking to you between parenting crises. However, it's hard to find anything that really differentiates Charlton's actual writing style from that of any other author. Other than the fact that he moans. A lot. In fact, most of the book is given over to his incessant whining.

The intended audience is, unsurprisingly, potential househusbands and those who, according to Charlton, want to know what it's like to do the job he does.

The good points: When I write these reviews, I like to try and focus on positive points. Amusing and cathartic though it may be, simply savaging a book when I personally don't like it offers little information to the review reader, and isn't particularly helpful. Unfortunately, if I bring that approach to 'Chips, Videos and Alcohol', it would be a very short review!

I will say, though, that the chapter on vasectomy was quite amusing.

The bad points: I read this book twice, yet sadly could still find little, if anything, to commend it.

Alan Charlton spends most of his time moaning - his aim seems to be to tell us all how awful his experiences were, how hard he had it, and how much worse it is for men than women. But it's hard to have any sympathy for a man who, from reading the book, caused the vast majority of his own problems!

For example - how can he whine about how hard the work is, and how unremitting - then admit that he takes his wife breakfast in bed EVERY day, and allows her to sleep till lunchtime at weekends. His wife works, so does nothing to contribute to the household. If a man were to take that approach, he would quite rightly be castigated for laziness. If he's allowed himself to take it all on without insisting on his wife sharing some of the responsibility, he has no right to complain about how hard-done-by he is.

He moans about an unfeasibly large number of changes of clothing every day. Hmm. Try being less fastidious - I don't think the baby will mind a little vomit-stain on his t-shirt - or just learn how to put a nappy on properly to avoid leaks!

But the most ridiculous thing was his complaint about not being able to use the toilet because the baby was crying and he couldn't leave him. Surely this doesn't require the brains of a mastermind - insert baby into chair or cot, insert dummy into baby, insert self into bathroom. In the worst case, leaving the baby crying for a couple of minutes while he uses the loo is unlikely to result in the infant suffering a coronary, aneurysm or long-term stress disorder.

In the end, I was left impressed by only one thing - that the surgeon performing his vasectomy could find a pair of testicles upon which to perform the procedure.

In summary: There are hundreds of books out there about being a dad. Some are very good - From Lad to Dad, for example. This one, however, is not. Avoid it, and spend your cash on something more worthwhile - like chips, videos or alcohol.

Old Words

This is (another) new Blog, where I plan to repost pieces of Marketing material, articles and the like that I've written for others or had published.