Computer Information For Serious Researchers

This report contains information for anyone who wants to be regarded as a serious research whether that is with earthquake forecasting or just about anything else.

EarthWaves members are encouraged to comment on this and add their own suggestions. Canie should probably have something she can add.

If you are not doing at least one of these three things or something that accomplishes the same result then you probably should not be telling anyone that you are a serious researcher.

Yes. The Internet is a dangerous place to work. There are computer viruses lurking out there at various locations. But they can be dealt with. And if you are using the “fear of viruses” as a reason to avoid effectively using the Internet then you cannot in my opinion regard yourself as a serious researcher.

1. For truly serious researchers

If you are running Windows on an XP, Vista, or Windows 7 system for example you should be able to purchase any modern firewall / virus computer program that will run with the system. The cost might be around $70 per year. And some of them let you install copies of the software on multiple computers.

I myself do that every year. And it takes a while to learn how to organize the firewall / virus programs and run them each year so that they will coexist with Windows. But it is worth the effort for a serious researcher.

My own system is so restricted that virtually nothing unwanted can get through the firewall and virus program and attack my main computer. In fact, in order to even work on my Web sites I have to make some major changes in the firewall settings. That is so much trouble that I wrote a Perl language program that automatically makes the changes for me. It starts a browser running and then resets the security settings etc. so that some Web site development cookies are allowed for example. And when I am done working on the site the second part of the Perl program resets all of the security settings and clears the Web browsing history along with any Web page development cookies etc.

2. For serious researchers who are a little on the lazy side

Actually, this is a good idea for any serious researcher.

Purchase a used XP or Vista system for $50 from one of those used computer places. Make sure they also include the original Windows software so that you can reload everything if necessary.

Download, install, and learn how to use one of those free firewall programs such as Zonealarm. They are not perfect. But they can do a fairly good job of protecting your computer from routine attacks.

Use that computer to do Web surfing etc. And while doing that, turn the power off to your regular research computer or disconnect it from the Internet and any local computer network you might be on.

If you go to free Web sites and start installing exe game programs etc. on that computer without any precautions you will probably eventually get a virus. If that happens just reinstall the Windows program and the virus should disappear. Then reinstall Zonealarm.

3. For truly lazy researchers You know who you are!

Purchase one of those flash memory sticks (< $10) and load it with the Web site addresses of any Web sites that you want to visit.

Go to any public library, government agency, or university that allows this and get on one of their free usage Internet linked computers.

Plug in the flash memory stick and use it to start visiting the Web sites.

Save anything you see that looks interesting on the flash memory stick.

Unless you store an exe type program on the memory stick and then tell your main computer to run it you will probably not encounter any virus problems if you then connect the memory stick with your regular computer.

But, you need to be just a little careful with this and need to have some idea of what you are doing.

If you save only txt and picture files such as png, jpg, gif, bmp etc. on the flash memory stick it should be almost impossible to encounter any virus problems.

exe files, zip files, Word for Windows doc files, Excel xls files, bat files, and many others can probably contain some harmful type of content that can be transferred through a flash memory stick.

Each time you want to use the memory stick again just tell Windows etc. to clear it completely or even reformat it. I don’t think you can truly reformat a flash memory stick. But it will at least clear everything out of it.

These are personal opinions.