Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss Apple and Samsung struggling to sell super pricy phones, Tokyo 2020 Olympic robots, tech helping people, FedEx terminating a contract with Amazon, and more.

Laura in Windsor, Ontario listens on AM800 CKLW and asked: "I'm wondering if Windows Defender is sufficient for antivirus on a PC. I used to have McAfee but it expired and it's my daughter's PC so I want it to be secure. Also, I work on a Mac, I'm a designer. I'm curious what you think of the program Malwarebytes. I've heard some people say it's good. Some others have said you don't need it and it will slow your computer down."

http://www.intotomorrow.com/media/podcasts/2019/08-09-2019/08-09-2019-H2S1.mp3

Laura, Windows Defender is surprisingly solid.

A German company that does antivirus benchmarking ran a test recently that concluded that Windows Defender stopped 97% of the threats they threw at it.

There are other antivirus programs that rank higher, perform better, and have fewer false positives, but Defender is getting into the realm of good enough.

We get almost no antivirus calls these days, and that is in part because Windows itself has gotten more defensive too. Viruses can do less harm when permissions are much more restricted than they used to be, in that context, Defender may be all you need.

As for Malware bytes on Mac, it’s probably both good and largely unnecessary at the same time. Malwarebytes performs well and adds another layer of protection, but the risks are still low.

We don’t have any direct experience with MalwareBytes for Mac, but anecdotally other antivirus software like Sophos doesn’t really seem to have any measurable performance impact. You probably don’t need something like Malware Bytes Premium, but you might as well keep the free version around.

Kathie in Clarkston, Michigan listens on AM800 CKLW and asked: "I was wondering about the 5G network that is coming. I've been hearing so many horror stories about how it's going to microwave our brains and be very bad for our health. I wondered what your thoughts on this were."

http://www.intotomorrow.com/media/podcasts/2019/08-09-2019/08-09-2019-H2S2.mp3

Kathie, do you remember how cell phone, just the talk on it kind were going to fry your brain? People sold the most ridiculous little plastic rings to stick to your phone because apparently that was supposed to help somehow…

Then 3G and LTE were going to fry your brain too, and smart meters, and your microwave will give you cancer.

Don’t worry about 5G frequencies, they’ve already been flying around for a while, if you’re going to worry about technology that can harm your health, your car’s exhaust pipe should be a much bigger concern than your phone.

Steven asked: "Why does the speed test on different items change. I conducted a speed test on my 2 phones, different result . On two iPads different result from each other and the phones. Why?"

http://www.intotomorrow.com/media/podcasts/2019/08-09-2019/08-09-2019-H2S2.mp3

Steven, your devices have to consume and process the data.

Different devices have not just different process...