If you're an observant person, you've already noticed something different. Up until now, the "Shareware: Sharing the Joy" column has been written by Robert Stephens. Mr. Stephens has left Apple Wizards to spend more time with his family. Because Nature and I both abhor vacuums, I've stepped in to fill the shareware void.
 
A Few Thoughts About Viruses
 
Disinfectant
I thought I'd begin my first column by talking about the problem of computer viruses. There's an IBM commercial that's been airing quite a bit lately. The setting is a generic office. Someone is trying to print something, without success. She tries jiggling the printer cable. A co-worker comes by, asks what's wrong and tries to help. Other office people congregate, and
no one can figure out what's wrong with the printer. Finally, someone says "It's not the printer, it's the computer. Hadley downloaded a virus off the web." It ends with a pitch for IBM security solutions.
It's an effective commercial. It preys upon people's fears of what might be lurking out there on the Internet, just waiting to pounce on your hard drive and ruin your whole day. It's enough to make you want to avoid downloading shareware!
The good news for Mac users is that most of the viruses that exist these days are exclusively for PCs. In fact, of the few Mac viruses remaining, most are cross-platform macro viruses that migrated from Microsoft Word 6 and Excel for Windows. So Macs are relatively safe from viral infection.
Even better news is that you don't have to pay a lot of money for virus protection. John Norstad's Disinfectant (v.3.7.1, July '97, 347 KB) offers virus protection at an unbeatable price — it's free! It's available directly from Mr. Norstad's site http://charlotte.acns.nwu.edu/jln/progs.html or from most Mac software archives.
Just place all the programs you download in a folder and have Disinfectant scan the folder for viruses before you open any of them. It's that simple. Download without fear.
 
And Now For Something Completely Different
 
David's Backgammon
I love playing backgammon. It's a game that satisfies on some deep level that I can't really explain. Although it doesn't have quite the mystique that chess does, I find it just as elegant and endlessly fascinating.
David's Backgammon (v.1.3.7, September '97, 825 KB) by David Byrum is a real treasure, whether you're a longtime backgammon enthusiast or a complete novice. The gameboard is nicely represented and the interface is intuitive. The sounds are terrific. When you set down a piece it makes an edifying "thunk!", and when you shake up the dice before rolling they rattle around just like real dice. It's little touches like these that make David's Backgammon a winner.
The program costs $20 to register and for $25 you get a disk with the latest version. In the demo version you'll only be able to finish about half the games before it quits. This is a great incentive to register! You'll find David's Backgammon at:
Painting (v1.1, October '97, 1.4 MB) by Sarwat Khan is a terrific little application for creating pixel-based graphics. It's very intuitive and easy to use. The toolbox should be familiar to anyone who's used Adobe Photoshop or just about any other graphics program. These things have become remarkably standardized. It's great for creating graphics to use on a website and it has the built-in ability to save your painting as a JPEG. And at only $15, Painting is a bargain. Compare it to commercial graphics programs which cost several hundred dollars.
For amateurs, hobbyists, and webmasters on a budget, Painting is an ideal package. Check it out at http://www.interlog.com/~sarwat/painting/
That's all for this month. Join us again next month for another adventure in the wonderful world of shareware!
