Free Ways to Stay Safe On-line in 2010

Admit it, if you use Windows you have a story about a nasty virus.  When I tell people I do computer security for a living, it often leads to a conversation about how to stay safe on-line.  Yes the bad guys are smart, but you can pretty easily stay one step ahead.

So, here’s my 2010 list of things to use to stay out of trouble on the web:

1. Google Chrome: After being a long-time Firefox fan for years, I made the switch to Chrome this year and never looked back. Chrome updates automatically, is crazy fast, and I’ve had almost no issues with it working everywhere. (If you do, install the IE tab extension). What else are you looking for out of a browser?
2. Google PDF Viewer: Chrome has extensions (think of them as mini-apps inside the browser). The best one lets you view PDF’s in Google’s PDF view instead of in Adobe Acrobat. Why is this important? The bad guys are breaking in more through Acrobat than any other way lately.  So, this simple free extension permantly blocks their avenue of attack.
3. Good Anti-Virus: I know you already know this one, but some of you still aren’t doing it. There’s some good free options, or you can usually get McAfee or Norton pretty cheap on-line.
4. Block Porn: K9 Web Protection is hands down the best web filter I’ve ever seen for home.  It’s free, and it’s filters are very accurate.  (If you are very concerned, add Covenant Eyes to log everything also).

(Of course, the first three are much less a concern if you use a Mac, but the fourth still applies.)

These are all easy to use, free, and probably better than what you are using today.  This is how I set up my wife, my mom, and my friends — so what are you waiting for… a virus?  Let me know if you have any questions.

(photo by WYSZ)

Hawaii 2010

Holly and headed off to Hawaii last week. It was a combination Happy-9-Year-Anniversary and Happy-Being-Done-with-All-Things-Cancer Vacation.

What a gift it was! We mostly just camped on different beaches, talked, and read. I didn’t take many photos, but here’s a few:

(If you can’t see the slideshow above, click here)

Finding Balance in a Windstorm

Sometimes I feel like life is continual struggle to find balance — all in the midst of the gusts of wind life seems to throw us.  2009 definately brought plenty of gusts our way and we are still trying to find the new normal — what is the right new balance in life?

I watched this TED video recently and was struck at the simple wisdom it contained about finding balance in life.  It’s a (very entertaining) lecture based on a long study called the Blue Zones of certain groups of people who live to be 100 statistically much more often than average.

They isolated 9 factors that seem to make this possible (genetics seems to play a small part).   I encourage you take 20 minutes to watch it and see if you don’t find some part of your life that could be more in balance.

A few challenging questions for me:

• What does it mean to move naturally throughout my days and weeks?
• What is my “ikigai” or sense of purpose that gets me up everyday?
• Am I purposeful in surrounding myself with community in the daily moments?
• What do I do to maintain the right outlook — one that is relaxed and prayerful?
• What strategies/tricks/habits could I develop to not overeat?

There’s also a book I plan to read.

Uganda Photos

This weekend I finally got all my photos from Uganda processed and uploaded to Flickr. I hope you enjoy some of my 36 favorites in this slideshow:

(Can’t see it? Want it fullscreen? Try here.)

You can see all 219 I uploaded here.

Grace

Grace (n): the free and unmerited favor of God

It may seem strange to be talking about the favor of God at a time when we have just gone through radical surgery to remove cancer from Holly’s 33-year old body. But God’s favor is exactly what has been upon us lately.

Grace is not the absence of pain — it’s not an easy life. Grace is God stepping into your pain and showing His goodness by making a way out. Ephesians 2 says it like this:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.

You see, without the death there would be no grace. Without cancer, we would have missed out on so many ways to see His unmerited favor in our lives.

When I was in Uganda, I saw two things that made His grace more clear. One was Mary Ida — an elderly, emaciated woman literally laying in the dirt waiting to die. Everyone in the community simply passed her by without a 2nd thought.

The second thing was visiting a clinic for HIV+ kids. The pediatrician explained that they advised the HIV+ moms to breastfeed their kids, knowing it would almost certainly lead to them contracting HIV as well. They did this because the alternative was the kids dying of malnutrition.

So to me, Grace is…

…living where the community cares if my wife lives or dies.

…having to make choices between reconstruction options, not HIV vs death by malnutrition.

…a free trip to Africa.

…world-class surgeons who work for 13 hours to not just get rid of all the cancer, but go to extremes to make you look the way you did before they started.

…God providing money to pay for it all.

…people we don’t even know bringing us amazing food everyday.

…family who drops everything to be by your side in a time of need.

…an endless stream of friends almost begging to be able to do something for us.

…God providing the strength to fly 25 hours back from Africa and have minimal jetlag so I can be there to care for my wife.

…two amazing kids who are excited Mommy is cancer free so we can start adopting.

…God stepping into our pain, and being more real to us than He ever has before.

There is nothing in me that merits me getting any of these things more than Mary Ida or the kids at the HIV clinic. I have no idea why Jesus would show us such favor — but thank you Jesus.